- The growth of AI has seen the rise of startups leveraging the technology to solve human needs across health, finance, insurance, pharmaceutical and other industries
- The African continent and Nigeria are not left out in the wave of AI technology
- From Ubenwa to Curacel and RxAll, TheRadar spotlights seven innovative African startups founded by Nigerians
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution has brought about innovations and startups leveraging technology to address pressing human needs.
The African continent is not left behind in this wave of revolution. The continent boasts a handful of startups changing the world, most of which are founded by Nigerians or located in Nigeria.
Nigeria currently has over 400 AI startups and firms. The country’s dominance of the African AI space has attracted Google's attention, as Google recently invested N2.8 billion to support 10 AI startups focused on developing innovations that solve local challenges. The grant is part of Google’s $5.8 million commitment to support Sub-Saharan African innovators.
Also, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, recently announced the launch of a N100 million AI fund in collaboration with Google to support AI startups.
In all these revolutions on the continent, many startups whose founders are of Nigerian origin are placing the country on the world map because of their innovativeness and solutions to critical human needs.
TheRadar spotlights seven of these startups in no particular order.
7 innovative African AI startups founded by Nigerians
1. Ubenwa Health:
This Montreal-based health startup, derived from the Igbo Language, which means “an infant’s cry,” was co-founded by Charles Onu. Ubenwa is one of the revolutionary health technology startups, using AI to analyse the cry of infants for the early detection of health conditions like birth asphyxia.
Ubenwa was co-founded in 2017 by Onu when he moved from Nigeria to Canada. Other co-founders of the startup are Samantha Latremouille, who holds a PhD in Experimental Medicine from McGill, and Innocent Udeogu.
Since 2022 when he took over the saddles of the startup, Onu has pioneered its efforts in infant diagnostics by working closely with pediatric hospitals worldwide. In 2022, the startup raised a pre-seed funding of $2.5 million to drive its innovation, especially in clinical validations.
Onu studied Electronics and Computer Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria, between 2006 and 2011 and thereafter attended the AI Stream at Creative Destruction Lab (2020-2021). He also holds a doctorate in Machine Learning from McGill University and conducted research at the Mila-Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute.
2. Curacel
The startup was co-founded by Henry Mascot and John Dada. The company raised $3 million in 2023 from leading venture capital firms to drive its expansion in Africa. Mascot had previously worked with 54Gene where he was instrumental in scaling the company’s provider partner network and leading its expansion efforts.
Mascot also worked as Growth Lead at AmplifyPay, Nigeria’s first recurring payments gateway, which was later acquired by Carbon. Under his watch, AmplifyPay’s MTransfers platform, a unique embedded banking tool, was developed. The tool helps secure partnerships with top-tier Nigerian banks, including GTBank, Zenith, and Access.
Mascot has an engineering degree and a diploma from MEST Africa.
3. SeamlessHR
Founded in 2018 by Emmanuel Okeleji and Deji Lana, SeamlessHR is an AI, cloud-based HR and payroll solution for medium to large-sized African companies by helping them enhance productivity and optimise workforce management.
SeamlessHR is a one-stop shop for businesses’ HR needs and helps businesses by simplifying the hiring process, onboarding and management of HR activities. The SeamlessHR platform offers tools for payroll, performance and application tracking, workforce planning and succession planning for companies in various industries such as banking, oil and gas, healthcare and manufacturing.
Under Okeleji, SeamlessHR has grown and is adopted across Nigeria, Ghana and Esat Africa with prospects to expand to other markets.
Okeleji was the Founding Assistant Project Director at Evercare Hospital, Lekki was the CEO of Insidify.com Limited and co-founded Waressence Nigeria Limited, an enterprise software development company with corporates like MTN, UBA and FirstBank in its clientele.
Okeleji holds an MB.ch.B in Medicine and Surgery from Obafemi Awolowo University and completed an Advanced Business Strategy programme at Harvard Business School Executive Education in October 2022.
4. RxAll
RxAll is an AI and machine learning-powered health device that combats fake drugs and authenticates the quality of medicine within 20 seconds by analysing medicine composition in real-time through miniaturised spectrometry. The device connects to a mobile app and a cloud-based AI system to provide immediate quality reports.
RxAll was founded in January 2016 by Adebayo Alonge, who has over 15 years of entrepreneurial experience. Alonge is also the Group CEO of StorsApp and Frontières Bay Energies, all of which harness cutting-edge AI technology in health, finance, and climate solutions.
Since October 2017, Alonge has led the company to penetrate many African markets, deliver authenticated medicines to over three million patients monthly, and grow annual revenue by 300 per cent.
RxAll has raised $10 million from Tier 1 venture capitals like SOSV and Katapult and has received numerous accolades.
Alonge has earned degrees from Yale and Harvard in finance, public policy and pharmaceutical sciences.
5. Awarri
It is founded by Silas Adekunle and Eniola Edun. Adekunle is also the CEO of Reach Industries, which is dedicated to enhancing laboratory efficiency through innovative technologies.
Adekunle previously led Reach Robotics, where he launched MekaMon, the world’s first augmented reality gaming robot, which earned him recognition as the highest-paid robotics engineer globally and was on the list of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2018.
He bagged a BSc in Robotics from the University of the West of England, graduating with First Class Honours.
6. Intelia
Intelia, which uses data science to improve how software is developed and delivered, was founded by Udoka Mark, who has served as the company’s CEO since December 2016.
Mark was the CEO of Kinetic Base Inc. from April 2012 to March 2015 and co-founded Cubix Labs in New York City with Salman Lakhani between June 2008 and June 2013.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University and a Master’s in Engineering Management from Johns Hopkins University, Mark’s career began as an electrical engineer at DuPont from June 2007 to June 2009, where he focused on plant design and programmable logic controllers.
7. Autogon AI
It is developed to enable diverse applications in different industries. In finance, it detects fraud and predicts loan defaults, reducing financial risk. In healthcare, it aids drug discovery and improves diagnostics through AI vision technology. It also provides tools for 24/7 virtual assistance, localised video content creation and insurance fraud detection.
Autogon AI was founded by Ebuka Obi, who also co-founded IdentityPass. Obi was the CTO of Techvant Technology Solutions, where he was instrumental in implementing strategic technical frameworks and developing machine learning models to enhance product features.
He has also worked at FUERTE Technology Solutions and served as Lead IT Security at AppZone Group.
Moniepoint becomes Africa’s 8th Unicorn after raising $110m in equity financing
Meanwhile, TheRadar reported that Moniepoint, a Nigeria-based fintech, is Africa’s eighth startup to have achieved Unicorn status after raising $110 million in equity financing.
The series C financing round was led by Development Partners International (DPI) and other new investors, including Google’s Africa Investment Fund and Verod Capital. Global impact firm Lightrock, an existing investor, also participated in the funding round.
