BEN lands $2.05M AI licensing deal to expand into Africa
Brand Engagement Network (BEN) has secured a $2.05 million AI licensing partnership that marks a significant step in its African expansion strategy. The Nasdaq-listed company is teaming up with South Africa-based Valio Technologies to roll out governed conversational AI solutions across government and commercial markets on the continent.
For eeNews Europe readers, the deal is noteworthy not just for its financial scale, but for how it combines AI licensing, data sovereignty, and real-world deployment in a regulated environment. It also highlights how AI architectures are being tailored to local regulatory and cultural requirements rather than relying on open, internet-connected models.
Exclusive licensing framework for Africa
Under the agreement, a newly formed South Africa-based entity will make a $2.05 million preferred equity contribution to BEN, which the company will recognize as intellectual property licensing revenue. BEN will hold a 25% common equity stake in the new entity and secure a board seat, alongside a 35% revenue share across software, SaaS, services, and subscriptions.
Crucially, the entity gains an exclusive license to deploy BEN’s AI solutions across African government and private-sector markets, with a perpetual term and right of first refusal on any sale. The partnership is built around BEN’s proprietary Engagement Language Model (ELM) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technologies, designed to operate in secure, closed-loop environments that align with data sovereignty and regulatory demands.
Governed AI pilot at Nelson Mandela University
A central element of the announcement is a memorandum of understanding with Nelson Mandela University to pilot an AI-powered mental health support system for students. The deployment will be institution-approved and governed, trained only on university-sanctioned content and isolated from public models and the open internet.
The system is intended to complement existing counseling and wellness services, offering confidential and culturally relevant support while ensuring appropriate escalation to human care when needed. The initiative comes against a backdrop of rising mental health challenges among university students, both in Africa and globally.
“In mental health applications, accuracy, governance, and trust are essential,” said Lefentse Nokaneng, Chief Executive Officer of Valio Technologies and General Manager: Research at Brand South Africa, South Africa’s official national branding agency. “We selected BEN because its technology is built with control and accountability at its core, supporting institutions as they responsibly explore how AI can complement existing support services.”
Scaling governed AI beyond education
BEN sees the African market as a long-term growth opportunity, driven by a fast-growing digital economy and increasing demand for compliant AI in regulated sectors. “This partnership reflects our strategy of pairing commercial scale with real-world, institution-approved deployments,” said Tyler Luck, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BEN. “Africa, with its rapidly growing digital economy and more than 1.4 billion people, represents a significant opportunity for governed AI adoption across public and private sectors.”
The deal follows BEN’s earlier Skye LATAM partnership and signals growing international interest in AI platforms that prioritize governance, compliance, and localized deployment over generic, open-access models.
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