Saudi Arabia-headquartered AI startup Intella has raised a $12.5m Series A round to scale its AI models tailored for Arabic dialects. The round was led by global tech investor Prosus, with participation from 500 Global, Wa’ed Ventures, Hala Ventures, and others.
Founded in Egypt in 2021 by CEO Nour Taher and CTO Omar Mansour, Intella is building the foundational AI layer for the Arabic-speaking world. The company develops enterprise-grade tools for speech-to-text transcription, analytics, and customer engagement. This new funding brings Intella’s total capital raised to $16.9m and will be used to accelerate its expansion across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The Problem with Arabic AI
A significant challenge for global AI developers is that Arabic is not a single, monolithic language. While Modern Standard Arabic is used in writing and formal settings, daily conversation happens in over 25 distinct primary dialects. This fragmentation means standard AI models often fail to capture the nuance and vocabulary of everyday speech, rendering them ineffective for customer service and data analysis.
Intella’s core technology directly addresses this gap. The company claims its proprietary speech-to-text models have achieved an accuracy rate of 95.73% across numerous dialects, a key differentiator in the market.
“From day one, our vision has been to bridge the gap between global AI advancements and the Arabic-speaking world,” says cofounder and CEO Nour Taher. “This funding allows us to accelerate our goal of helping every enterprise in the region transform their customer conversations from dark data into a strategic asset.”
Strategy and Expansion
The fresh capital will be used to deepen the company’s product offering and scale its commercial operations. Key priorities include:
- Product Development: Launching its new conversational AI agent, Ziila, which functions as a digital human. It will integrate with Intella’s existing analytics product,
intellaCX, creating a suite for businesses to analyse conversations and build voice-based customer experiences. - MENA Expansion: Scaling its go-to-market teams in its core markets of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, targeting high-demand sectors like finance, telecommunications, and government.
- Continued R&D: Investing in research to further improve its dialectal understanding and maintain its technological edge.
The company has already shown commercial traction. It recently partnered with Jumia, one of Africa’s largest e-commerce platforms, to power a voice-ordering feature using its Ziila technology. Intella reported that it more than doubled its revenue in 2024 and is projecting 7x growth in 2025.
Investor Perspective
The investment from Prosus, which has backed global tech giants like Tencent and Delivery Hero, is a significant vote of confidence in both Intella and the wider MENA tech ecosystem.
“The market opportunity in MENA is enormous… Yet Arabic AI models have historically underperformed,” said Robin Voogd, Head of Middle East Investments at Prosus Ventures. “Intella is changing that. We’re excited to back the company and support its mission of building AI locally for the Arabic-speaking world.”
Intella’s journey reflects the region’s growing tech ambitions. After raising a $3.4m pre-Series A round in 2023, the startup relocated its headquarters from Cairo to Riyadh, positioning itself at the centre of Saudi Arabia’s rapidly advancing technology hub.