He is among the entrepreneurs redefining African technology, offering an innovation that directly addresses challenges in complexity and decision-making.

South African technology executive Ryno Goosen is leading the expansion of his firm, Locstat, after the artificial intelligence (AI) company secured a significant funding round.

Goosen, co-founder, CEO, and CTO of Locstat, announced in late October 2025 that the company had raised $2.9 million in a pre-Series A funding round from the Portugal Gateway Fund and ANZA Capital.

The capital will fund the commercialization of Locstat's technology in new markets. "This investment allows us to rapidly commercialize locally developed South African technology, proven in some of the most complex transactional environments on the continent," Goosen said.

Established in 2016, Locstat develops a “graph intelligence” platform that helps organizations identify real-time risks and opportunities to improve decision speed and relevance. The company converts graph-oriented databases, which dynamically link data elements, into a comprehensive solution combining data, analytics, and AI to solve complex, large-scale problems.

At the core of Locstat's offering is LightWeaver, a platform optimized for rapid deployment and precise performance measurement. It is designed to reduce the cost and complexity associated with internal development while delivering reliable performance metrics.

Locstat’s applications span several areas, including fraud and risk detection in dense transaction networks, asset tracking, and real-time geospatial analytics for operations and logistics. The tool also enables businesses to analyze relationships between customers, partners, and behaviors over time.

In addition to his role at Locstat, Goosen heads Suritec, a South African company founded in 2001 that specializes in analytics, content management, geographical intelligence, system integration, and consulting.

Goosen holds a Master's degree in Information and Knowledge Management from Stellenbosch University, which he obtained in 2014.

Melchior Koba