Intella, a pioneer in Arabic speech intelligence, has successfully closed a $12.5 million Series A funding round to accelerate its growth and expand its presence across the MENA region. The oversubscribed round was led by Prosus, with additional participation from 500 Global, Wa’ed Ventures, Hala Ventures, Idrisi Ventures, and HearstLab, the venture arm of Hearst Corporation. This milestone underscores growing investor confidence in Intella’s ability to deliver tailored AI solutions for one of the world’s most linguistically complex regions.
Strengthening AI for Arabic Dialects
Founded in 2021 by CEO Nour Taher and CTO Omar Mansour, Intella has quickly become a market leader in Arabic-first speech technologies. The company’s proprietary models are designed to process more than 25 dialects, a breakthrough given the fragmentation of Arabic speech across countries and regions. By achieving a global record accuracy of 95.73% in speech-to-text conversion, Intella has set a new standard for localized AI, surpassing the performance of many global competitors.
Expanding Capabilities and Market Reach
The newly secured capital will be channeled into research and development, product expansion, and regional hiring, strengthening Intella’s ability to scale. A key focus is the rollout of Ziila, its Arabic-born conversational AI agent, which complements the firm’s analytics platform, intellaCX. Together, these products provide enterprises with end-to-end tools for analyzing conversations and delivering next-generation customer engagement.
Investor Backing and Strategic Vision
Prosus, which led the round, highlighted the significance of Intella’s work in addressing long-standing challenges in Arabic AI. According to Robin Voogd, Head of Middle East Investments at Prosus Ventures, Arabic speech models have historically underperformed due to complex phonetics, the lack of standardized spoken Arabic, and limited high-quality data. Intella’s data-driven, dialect-specific approach positions it as a foundational player in the region’s rapidly growing AI ecosystem.
Demonstrating Real-World Applications
To showcase the commercial strength of its technology, Intella recently launched Ziila in partnership with Jumia, Africa’s largest e-commerce platform. This debut use case powers a voice-ordering feature for customers, enabling the system to manage diverse dialects in real-world transactions. The collaboration serves as proof of the technology’s adaptability and signals how localized AI can transform customer engagement across sectors.
Market Potential Across MENA
Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world, yet Modern Standard Arabic is rarely used in daily interactions, making localized solutions essential. Intella’s ability to process and interpret multiple dialects positions it uniquely to meet the needs of over 7,500 organizations operating across the MENA region. Sectors such as finance, telecommunications, and government represent major opportunities, with demand accelerating for intelligent voice and text solutions.
Growth Trajectory and Future Plans
Intella has demonstrated strong momentum, more than doubling its revenue in 2024 and forecasting a sevenfold increase in 2025. With the new funding, the company intends to expand its teams in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, reinforcing its market presence in two of the region’s largest economies. Continued investment in R&D will also ensure that Intella stays ahead of global competitors while advancing Arabic-first AI innovation.
The closing of this $12.5 million Series A round cements Intella’s role as a trailblazer in Arabic speech intelligence and enterprise AI solutions. By bridging the gap between global advancements and regional linguistic realities, the company is unlocking new opportunities for enterprises to transform customer conversations into strategic assets. As Intella pushes forward with its expansion, it is set to play a defining role in shaping the future of AI across the Arabic-speaking world.