Naspers has launched a free AI platform for South African businesses through its subsidiary Prosus.

The platform, called ToqanClaw, was launched on Tuesday and is aimed at entrepreneurs, small businesses and merchants.

Naspers says the tool can help users create apps, dashboards and automations by using descriptive prompts.

No coding experience is required.

Prosus said ToqanClaw was built in-house and integrated with its own AI platform, Toqan.

The company said the platform brings many OpenClaw-style features into a secure environment.

Platform uses multiple AI models

ToqanClaw draws on several AI models, including Anthropic models and open-source models.

Naspers told MyBroadband that the platform can intelligently choose between AI models depending on the task.

The company said the platform also uses Naspers-Prosus’ Large Commerce Model, built from data linked to more than one billion customers worldwide and 500 million daily interactions.

“The large commerce model anticipates the demands of customers around the world, making a tool like ToqanClaw truly world-class,” Naspers said.

The company said user data remains under the user’s control and is not used to train third-party models.

Free access for South Africans

Naspers said ToqanClaw is currently free to use in South Africa.

It has no token limits or usage limits at this stage.

The company said this makes it different from similar products in the market.

“The core belief behind these products is that AI solutions should be affordable for small businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals around the world,” Naspers said.

It said using open-source models helped reduce costs by up to 90%.

Naspers may consider a subscription model later, depending on uptake.

Zapia assistant also launched

Naspers has also launched Zapia, an AI assistant app.

The app can be used to book restaurants, manage inboxes and coordinate schedules.

Naspers said the two tools were designed to lower barriers for small businesses and individuals who want to use AI without high costs or technical knowledge.

Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said the real value of AI now depends on data, context and practical business use.

He said Prosus had spent 18 months building the platform internally, with 60 000 agents and 10 000 applications created by people who had never written code.