AiThority Interview With Mamoun Benkirane, CEO and Co-Founder of MarketLeap

Mamoun Benkirane, CEO and Co-Founder of MarketLeap shares more about AI’s influence on D2C purchase cycles, product enhancements at MarketLeap and more about the future of AI in this quick catch-up: 

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Hi Mamoun Benkirane, tell us about yourself and the story behind MarketLeap.     

My name is Mamoun Benkirane and I am the CEO and Co-founder of MarketLeap. I began my career at Booz & Company before joining Jumia, where I led the company’s growth across 14 African countries. I then moved to Amazon, leading its expansion into Poland and Switzerland. The idea for MarketLeap was born when I hosted a webinar for Amazon sellers on expanding into new markets. After the session, I was inundated with emails from sellers struggling with the complexity of the process and the lack of adequate tools. Seeing this gap, I set out to build MarketLeap, an AI-powered platform designed to simplify and automate global e-commerce expansion.

Also Read: AiThority Interview with Haoyuan Li, Founder and CEO, Alluxio

What can users look forward to in terms of product enhancements with your latest funding round?

With the Series A funding, we plan to expand our AI-driven automation across pricing, marketing, and inventory management, as well as expand into new channels.

How is AI turning out to be a bigger enabler for D2C purchase cycles today?

D2C sellers, especially ones who are expanding to multiple markets, are getting inundated with data that is fragmented, incomplete, and time-consuming to analyse. Moreover, most sellers are not data analysts (or can afford to hire them in-house), so they make do with DIY analysis tools that are limited or overly complicated. It’s not an ideal situation – which is where AI now comes into play to help automate data analysis, along with marketplace operations, compliance, logistics, and other backend needs. For this reason, AI has become the foundation of our platform, and I see it becoming more integrated with e-Commerce tools over the next few years.

What trends are shaping D2C that you’d like to highlight more about?

D2C sellers are increasingly shifting their focus toward B2B while outsourcing core e-Commerce operations. This allows them to concentrate on what they do best, creating exceptional products.

A few top-of-mind AI innovators from the global AI market that have caught your interest off late and why?

Beyond the usual players in LLMs and Big Tech, I’m particularly intrigued by voice AI startups like ElevenLabs and company-focused LLM startups such as Moveworks. The reason is simple, LLMs alone are limited in enterprise applications without proper integration with company-specific data. Startups that specialise in small dataset fine-tuning and minimising hallucinations are making LLMs truly valuable for businesses.

Additionally, AI-driven game development is another space to watch. The gaming industry benefits significantly from Generative AI, not just in text and sound but also in image, 3D asset, and video generation. Companies leveraging AI to automate content creation and enhance player experiences are shaping the future of interactive entertainment.

Also Read: AiThority Interview with Dan Brahmy, CEO & Co-Founder of Cyabra

The future of AI in your words before we wrap up?

If I had to make a bold prediction, I’d say LLM improvements will start slowing down soon. Instead of chasing marginal improvements in the models themselves, the real breakthroughs will come from applied AI, how LLMs are integrated into specific workflows and industries.

Most of the value in AI won’t come from standalone assistants but from deeply embedded solutions that solve real business problems. I also expect AI assistants to have the biggest impact on search and retrieval, fundamentally changing how we interact with information rather than replacing entire workflows.

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