Melio AI, a leading AI startup, today announced the launch of Highwind, Africa’s first AI marketplace, offering businesses quick, affordable, and scalable AI solutions.
Traditional AI projects require months of development, large budgets, and specialised teams. Starting at just $50 (R900), Highwind changes that by offering ready-to-use AI solutions through flexible subscription plans, pay-as-you-go pricing, and enterprise licensing options. This allows businesses to integrate expert-built models in minutes—without hiring a data science team.
Highwind simplifies AI adoption by packaging data, models, and features into ready-to-use APIs and a simple user interface, covering use cases from document processing and fraud detection to predictive analytics and customer service automation.
“For too long, businesses have faced a frustrating choice: either pay a fortune for custom AI or settle for rigid, off-the-shelf tools,” says Greg Desilla, COO of Melio AI. “Highwind changes that. Now, any business can access world-class AI on demand—at a fraction of the usual cost.”
A New AI Economy for Businesses and Data Scientists
Highwind bridges the gap between expensive, custom AI solutions and rigid, off-the-shelf tools. Instead of spending six months and $95,000+ building AI, businesses can now access pre-built, tested, and ready-to-deploy solutions with minimal configuration.
Businesses can enhance their core offerings through AI, gaining a competitive edge. The platform’s user-friendly interface allows companies to browse, purchase, and request AI solutions tailored to their unique needs.
“Highwind is a game changer,” says Pragasen Naicker, former COO of OneLinkage. “We integrated AI into our platform quickly, improving efficiency and customer experience—without the overhead of a data science team.”
Beyond businesses, Highwind empowers data scientists by making it easy to deploy and monetise AI models. Instead of struggling with infrastructure, marketing, go-to-market strategies, customer onboarding, usage tracking, and support, AI developers can focus on what they do best—building AI solutions—while Highwind handles the rest.
“Highwind lets data scientists focus on innovation, not infrastructure,” adds Harry Lee, Co-Founder & CTO of Melio AI. “We take care of deployment, monetisation, and customer onboarding—turning AI models into revenue without the operational headaches.”
