LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- Malaria remains one of Africa’s deadliest infectious diseases, and new investment is flowing into technologies aimed at improving how outbreaks are predicted and controlled.
Sora Technology, a health-focused startup using drones and artificial intelligence, has raised an additional $2.5 million to scale malaria surveillance and vector control efforts across the continent.
The funding brings total capital raised to about $7.3 million and will support expanded disease monitoring in multiple African countries.
New investors include Daiwa House Group Investment Limited Partnership, Central Japan Innovative Research Fund I and UNERI Capital Fund Series I.
Malaria infects more than 200 million people globally each year and kills nearly 600,000, with Africa accounting for the vast majority of cases and deaths.
Health experts have long warned that weak surveillance systems, delayed interventions and limited infrastructure continue to undermine elimination efforts.
Sora’s malaria programme uses satellite imagery, drones and AI models to identify mosquito breeding sites, assess environmental risk factors and predict outbreaks before they escalate.
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The technology allows health authorities to focus limited resources on high-risk areas rather than broad, less effective interventions.
Although the company is based in Japan, its malaria operations are concentrated in Africa, where it works in over 10 countries including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Mozambique.
According to CEO and founder Yosuke Kaneko, the company is “working to address critical healthcare infrastructure challenges, primarily across Africa.”
The fresh funding will be used to improve AI-driven disease prediction, expand field teams and strengthen partnerships with governments and international health bodies. Sora has collaborated with national and local authorities and partnered with the World Health Organisation to support malaria control initiatives in Mozambique.
Health specialists say data-driven surveillance tools like these could play a growing role as African countries push toward malaria elimination targets, particularly in regions where traditional monitoring methods struggle to keep pace with changing transmission patterns.
Notably, Sora plans to deepen its presence in partner countries while strengthening local technical capacity, as malaria continues to pose a major public health threat despite decades of global control efforts.
