AI that works where the grid doesn’t.
Load shedding, patchy networks and remote sites shouldn’t put AI out of reach. Syntu runs AI on site, on little power, with or without a network, and keeps your data where it belongs.
- Supplier
- Example Foods (Pty) Ltd
- Manifest
- 24 pallets
- Counted
- 22 pallets
- Evidence
- 3 clips · 14:32:07 to 14:41:55
Illustration with example data.
AI is built for places with reliable power and fast networks.
Much of Africa can’t count on either. Load shedding, patchy coverage, remote sites, heat, theft and tight budgets leave three gaps.
Most AI depends on constant electricity and a link to distant data centres. Load shedding switches it off when it is needed most.
Cameras and sensors that stream to the cloud fail on remote sites, underground and wherever coverage drops, and the data costs add up.
Sensitive footage and data travel offshore to be processed, under other countries’ laws and other companies’ terms.
Built from the edge inward.
We start where AI meets the real world: on site, on little power, with or without a network. Local data, models and infrastructure grow behind it.
- 1Edge intelligence: AI running on site, on little power
- 2African data and models: governed and kept local
- 3Sovereign compute: local infrastructure behind it all
Edge intelligence
AI running on site, on low-power hardware, processing data where it is created. Works through load shedding and with or without a network.
African data and models
The operational data and adapted models that edge deployments generate, governed and owned locally.
Sovereign compute
Local infrastructure that coordinates, updates and supports thousands of edge devices, built as demand grows.
Your cameras already see every pallet. Now they can count them.
Syntu turns the cameras at your dock doors into a verification system. Every delivery is counted, checked and timestamped as it happens, and the AI runs on site, so footage never leaves the building.
Workplace safety on the same cameras: forklift and pedestrian near-misses, PPE in required zones, blocked exits. Built to prevent injuries, with footage governed under POPIA.
- Count pallets in and out and match them against the delivery note or manifest.
- Spot damage and broken seals at the door, before stock is signed for.
- Keep timestamped evidence for supplier claims and disputes, ready to share.
- Work with what you have: existing IP cameras, edge devices on site, and through load shedding.
AI that keeps working, and stays yours.
Works off the grid
Edge devices run on little power and keep working through load shedding and patchy connectivity. Models are tested on African operations, not imported assumptions.
Your data stays here
Processing happens on your site, or in South African data centres when it needs to. Personal information stays under POPIA, not someone else’s terms of service.
Open foundations
Open models on open software, on hardware we can change as better chips arrive. No dependency on a single vendor, and no surprise price changes.
Looking for people who want to build AI that works anywhere, starting here.
Syntu is early. If you share the mission, there is room to help shape it from the start.
Engineers and a technical co-founder
People who have run models in production: edge AI, computer vision, embedded and low-power systems, ML infrastructure. We are looking for a co-founder to lead the technology.
Researchers, labs and hardware partners
Edge AI and vision teams, universities and research labs, hardware makers, integrators and infrastructure operators who would rather build together than alone.
Early investors
Angels and impact investors who believe the next wave of AI will run at the edge, and want to back it from the beginning.
Write to the address below and tell us how you would like to be involved.
See it on your own dock in eight weeks.
We are choosing a small number of retailers, wholesalers and distributors for paid pilots. One site, a handful of dock cameras, and results measured against your own claims and counts.
- 1 site
- 4 to 8 dock cameras
- 8 weeks
- Agreed metrics