Intron Health, a Nigerian tech startup specializing in speech recognition for healthcare workers, has successfully raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed funding round. The round was spearheaded by Microtraction, with notable contributions from Plug and Play Ventures, Jaza Rift Ventures, Octopus Ventures, Africa Health Ventures, OpenseedVC, Pi Campus, Alumni Angel, and Baker Bridge Capital. Additionally, angel investors from global companies such as Google, CLEAR Global, NYU, and Optum also participated in the funding.
Plans for Expansion and Development
The newly acquired funds will be used to deepen Intron Health’s research, enhance cloud-native and on-premises capabilities, and expand distribution channels. The company also plans to strengthen its team by recruiting additional tech talent to support product development and market expansion. These initiatives are aimed at driving further progress and overcoming additional technological challenges.
Revolutionizing Healthcare Documentation
Founded in 2020 by Tobi Olatunji, Intron Health has developed Africa’s first clinical speech recognition platform. This platform, which boasts an impressive 92% accuracy rate with medical terminology and heavy accents, helps healthcare workers in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and recently Uganda. It significantly accelerates the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) by enabling doctors to complete documentation seven times faster, thus reducing administrative burdens.
Impact and Future Growth
Tobi Olatunji, Founder and CEO of Intron Health, emphasized the company’s mission: “We are not only improving efficiency but also enhancing health outcomes and positively impacting hospital finances. With the support of prominent global investors, we are excited about our next phase of growth.”
Bridging the Gap in Speech Technology
While voice technology has rapidly advanced worldwide, many African and minority languages and accents remain excluded from global speech advancements. Intron Health addresses this issue with its advanced speech recognition platform, which supports a diverse range of African languages and accents. The platform recognizes local names and accurately transcribes medical terminologies both online and offline.
Building a Comprehensive Speech Dataset
To tackle the challenges posed by diverse accents and languages, Intron Health has created Africa’s largest clinical speech dataset. This proprietary collection consists of over 3.5 million audio clips across various specialties and domains, covering 288 accents from over 18,000 contributors in 29 countries. This extensive dataset enables the company to train its algorithms for deployment in hospitals with minimal additional fine-tuning.
Transformative Potential Beyond Healthcare
Intron Health’s speech recognition solution is proving transformative not only in healthcare but also in other sectors. The company is exploring potential use cases and opportunities for localized voice technology both within Africa and globally, demonstrating its commitment to leveraging voice technology’s transformative power.
