Nigerian Doctor-Turned-Founder Lands $1.6M For Inclusive Speech-Recognition Tool
Intron Health, a clinical speech-recognition startup, recently raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed round led by Microtraction, with participation from several other venture firms.
Founded by Tobi Olatunji, the company aims to bridge the gap in speech-recognition tools for speakers of minority languages, those with thick accents, or speech disorders.
Bridging the Speech Recognition Gap
Voice recognition technology is increasingly integrated into modern living, yet it often fails to serve those with thick accents or speech disorders.
Olatunji, founder and CEO of Intron Health, is addressing this issue as he notes that Intron boasts Africa’s largest clinical speech database, with an algorithm trained on 3.5 million audio clips from over 18,000 contributors representing 29 countries and 288 accents.
“Our extensive training on African accents ensures superior baseline performance compared to other services,” Olatunji told TechCrunch.
Creating Intron Health: From Frustration to Innovation
Olatunji’s journey into health tech began from his experiences as a medical doctor in Nigeria, where he encountered inefficiencies in the healthcare system, particularly the repetitive nature of paperwork.
This curiosity led him to the U.S., where he pursued advanced degrees in medical informatics and computer science, and gained valuable experience in natural language processing at tech giants like Amazon Web Services.
Initially, Intron Health aimed to digitize hospital operations in Africa through an electronic medical record (EMR) system. However, the resistance to typing over writing led Olatunji to develop a speech-recognition tool specifically for African accents.
Today, this technology is integrated into EMR systems and adopted by 30 hospitals across five markets, including Kenya and Nigeria.
The impact has been significant; for instance, Intron Health reduced the waiting time for radiology results from 48 hours to 20 minutes at one of West Africa’s largest hospitals.
The new funding will support technological advancements, such as noise cancellation, low bandwidth functionality, and transcription of multi-speaker conversations.
Additionally, Intron Health is contributing to speech research in Africa, partnering with entities like Google Research and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Feature Image Credit: Intron Health
