About utu

UTU means humanity in Swahili. Our name both reminds us of our company’s roots in Kenya and our vision of a safer, more trusted digital world, built around relationships just like the real-world.

In a networked world, trust is the most important currency.
Eric Schmidt, Exec. Chairman, Google

What we do

UTU’s Trust API seamlessly serves up personalized recommendations for trusted service providers on sharing platforms to drive your conversion, satisfaction, retention, and viral acquisition.

FAMILY SERVICES

Do you run a babysitter or nanny platform that is constrained by lack of trust? UTU has a solution to drive trust on your platform and supercharge your KPIs.

Online Professional Services

Do you run a platform for digital services like coding, content writing, or other professional services? Does service quality volatility hurt customer satisfaction and retention? Let UTU bridge your trust gap.

HOME SERVICES

Does your platform expose your customers’ or providers’ homes to unknown persons? Is lack of trust keeping you from crossing the chasm? UTU’s trusted recommendations are your bridge across the chasm.

P2P LENDING

Are you trying to build a trusted P2P FinTech Platform? Evaluate credit risk with little or no formal data? Understanding correlational risk in your portfolio?

P2P ECOMMERCE

Do you run an e-commerce platform that is constrained by lack of trust? UTU has a solution to drive trust on your platform.

MOBILITY SERVICES

UTU’s Technology already powers a family of interoperable mobility platforms in 5 countries across Africa.

Our advantages

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Trust | Personalized

Our trust engine runs on machine learning powered graph database adapting for each users unique preferences and trust model. Our engineers are wicked smart.

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Conversion | Satisfaction | Virality

Discover the power of trust and relationships to drive sales comparing to all other factors. Drive conversion by up to 20%, satisfaction by up to 10% and generate up to 30 invites per new user.

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Trust As a Currency

Nobody wants to go somewhere to buy trust, they want it there, baked in, when they’re looking for the goods and services they need. We bring the trust to you for a seamless customer journey.

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Customized to Your Needs

Trust is highly individual, contextual, and constantly evolving. Let us help you build trust specifically for your marketplace or business.

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Simple API

Connect to our API quickly and bring some UTU to your users.

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Priced to Fit You

Talk to us about custom pricing to fit your need. Our free package is pretty cool too.

UTU House

Home of AI & Blockchain in Nairobi

A co-working space and community hub. We offer space for individuals and organizations to work, meet, host events, learn, and share about AI and Blockchain technologies.

ACCESS PRIVATE OR SHARED WORK SPACE AS WELL AS MEETING AND EVENT SPACE

Welcome to UTU HOUSE

Our team

10+ years designing & managing complex projects across more than 40 countries. Recovering government relations consultant. Mountaineer.

Jason EisenFounder/CEO

PhD in Computer Science, distributed AI, trust-based negotiation protocols, 20+ years developing software.

Bastian BlankenburgFounder/CTO

15+ years experience designing websites & apps, a social media influencer, a serial wanderluster, a photographer and celebrated blogger @worduuup

Polina KazakFounder/Creative director

10+ years experience in private sector leadership roles; managed annual budgets of up to $10M (CAPEX) & $100M (OPEX), lead multiple mobility apps from 0 to profitability.

Ronald MahondoDIRECTOR OF MOBILITY/COO