African start-ups are increasingly building on Chinese AI models

Norrsken22 general partner Lexi Novitske said African tech start-ups are shifting to open-source Chinese AI models, including Alibaba Cloud's Qwen family, because they are cheaper and more available. The retreat of US venture capital from the continent is accelerating the shift.

• African start-ups pick Chinese AI models as cheaper and more available
• Norrsken22 points to Alibaba Cloud tools and the Qwen family
• Novitske calls the US capital pullback a "huge vacuum"
• Norrsken22's $205-million fund has deployed about half its capital