Intella, a pioneering AI startup specialising in Arabic speech intelligence, has raised $12.5 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round led by Prosus Ventures.
This new capital injection will accelerate Intella’s mission to revolutionise Arabic AI technology, expanding its footprint across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The company’s advancements promise to transform how enterprises engage with Arabic-speaking customers using tailored, dialect-specific AI models.
Leading the charge in Arabic AI
Intella, founded in 2021 by CEO Nour Taher and CTO Omar Mansour, leads Arabic voice technology. A record 95.73% transcription accuracy is achieved by its proprietary models for over 25 Arabic dialects.
“From day one, our vision has been to bridge the gap between global AI advancements and the Arabic-speaking world,” said Nour Taher.
Intella’s AI-driven tools include transcription, analytics, and robust customer engagement solutions that help businesses convert voice conversations into strategic insights.
The $12.5 million funding will specifically boost research and development efforts and enable product expansion focused on Arabic-first conversational AI agents, such as the recently launched digital human, Ziila.
Strategic expansion across MENA markets
With this investment, Intella wants to expand its go-to-market teams in Egypt and Saudi Arabia to address growing telecommunications, finance, and government services.
“This round is a catalyst for our product roadmap,” Omar Mansour said, emphasising their focus on building intelligent conversational AI capable of multi-turn dialogue and contextual understanding.
The company also expands beyond these initial countries into North Africa and broader regional markets, aiming to become the foundational technology behind Arabic voice and text applications.
Breaking barriers with dialectal AI
Arabic’s varied, regional dialects have long defied AI. Unlike Modern Standard Arabic, which is rarely used in daily conversation, Intella’s data-driven AI models adapt to each dialect.
Robin Voogd, Head of Middle East Investments at Prosus Ventures, noted, “Arabic AI models have historically underperformed due to complex phonetics and limited dialect-specific data. Intella is changing that by building AI locally for the Arabic-speaking world.” With revenues more than doubling in 2024 and predicted to grow sevenfold in 2025, the company has shown excellent market validation and enterprise adoption.
This round brings Intella’s total funding to nearly $17 million, positioning the startup at the forefront of Arabic AI innovation and enterprise tool development across the MENA region. Equipped with this new funding, Intella is poised to push the boundaries of Arabic speech technology and customer engagement.