Jos, Nigeria — In a continent where a child under five dies from malaria every minute, a Japan-headquartered startup is betting that the solution lies not in conventional spray campaigns but in the precision of artificial intelligence and the mobility of drones. SORA Technology has just secured an additional $2.5 million in seed funding to expand what it calls a technology-driven public health revolution across Africa.
The latest funding round, completed in November 2025, brings the company’s total capital raised to approximately $7.3 million, following an initial $4.8 million late-seed round announced in March. Three new investors joined the effort: Daiwa House Group Investment Limited Partnership, Central Japan Innovative Research Fund I, and UNERI Capital Fund Series I, alongside existing backers including Nissay Capital and SMBC Venture Capital.
A Disease That Won’t Let Go
Malaria remains Africa’s most persistent killer. The continent accounts for over 94% of global cases and 95% of deaths, with 246 million infections and 569,000 deaths recorded in 2023 alone, according to the World Health Organization. Nigeria bears one of the world’s highest malaria burdens, making it a strategic priority for interventions.
Traditional malaria control methods—insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying—have saved millions of lives, but progress has stalled. Climate change is expanding mosquito habitats, drug resistance is growing, and fragmented healthcare systems struggle to respond quickly to outbreaks. Africa loses an estimated $12 billion annually to the disease.
SORA Technology, founded in Japan in 2018 after early groundwork in 2015, is attempting to change this equation through its flagship initiative, SORA Malaria Control. The company combines satellite imagery, drone-based field data, and AI-powered analytics to predict outbreaks, identify high-risk breeding zones, and deploy targeted interventions.
“We want to reduce malaria dramatically within the first few years, and then push toward zero,” said a company representative in discussions about Nigeria deployments.
How the System Works
SORA’s approach is built on precision. Rather than blanket spraying entire regions, the company uses satellites and drones to map water bodies where mosquitoes breed—swamps, rice paddies, riverbanks. AI algorithms analyze this data alongside historical disease patterns, weather conditions, and environmental changes to predict where outbreaks are likely to occur.
Once high-risk zones are identified, drones deliver larvicides directly to mosquito breeding sites in what’s known as Larval Source Management. The company claims this method reduces chemical use by 70% and cuts operational costs in half compared to traditional spraying campaigns.
Mary Yeboah Asantewaa, SORA’s African Business Lead, emphasizes that the work is never finished. “If it rains next month, new water bodies will appear,” she explains. The system continuously reassesses risk and adjusts interventions in line with World Health Organization guidance, creating a dynamic response rather than a one-time campaign.
Scaling Across a Continent
SORA is already active in more than 10 African countries, including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Kenya, and Mozambique. The company has partnered with national and local governments, universities, research institutions, and international organizations, including the World Health Organization.
In Nigeria, SORA is in talks with the National Malaria Elimination Programme and several state governments, including Akwa Ibom. While a federal agreement has not yet materialized, the company has indicated that Nigeria remains a priority, with operations potentially beginning in early 2026.
The newly raised capital will be used to advance AI algorithms for infectious disease prediction, expand field operations across African partner countries, strengthen institutional partnerships, and enhance drone systems and local operational capabilities. Founder and CEO Yosuke Kaneko has stated that the company’s goal is to reduce preventable deaths from infectious diseases through scalable technology.
Beyond Malaria
While malaria control generates the headlines, SORA’s technology is already branching into other sectors. The company offers drone-based services for environmental monitoring in mining operations and productivity optimization in agriculture. In Ghana, SORA has completed contracts on cocoa and rice farms, providing soil nutrient analysis, crop health monitoring, waterlogging detection, and land-leveling insights.
This diversification puts SORA in competition with companies like Zipline, which focuses on medical deliveries across Africa, and Nigeria’s Terra, which specializes in mining and agriculture applications. Terra reported $2 million in orders from the mining industry in 2024.
For SORA, agriculture could ultimately become its most transformative business. “Agriculture is the backbone of Africa,” Asantewaa notes. “We need systems that ensure increased yields and the right nutritional values.”
AI in African Public Health: A Growing Field
SORA’s work is part of a broader movement to integrate artificial intelligence into African healthcare systems. AI applications in public health surveillance have expanded rapidly across the continent, with machine learning models being deployed for tuberculosis detection, HIV treatment optimization, Ebola outbreak prediction, and diabetic retinopathy diagnosis.
Research shows that AI can significantly improve the accuracy and timeliness of disease detection, optimize resource allocation, and facilitate targeted public health strategies. In Zambia, AI-driven diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy has shown clinically acceptable performance compared to human assessments. In Tanzania and Zambia, computer-aided tuberculosis diagnosis from chest radiographs has performed comparably to human experts.
However, challenges remain. Infrastructure limitations, data privacy concerns, fragmented health information systems, and a shortage of skilled professionals pose significant barriers to widespread AI adoption. Experts also highlight issues of trust, citing historical marginalization, colonialism, and a lack of transparency in how AI systems make decisions.
To address these concerns, researchers and practitioners emphasize the need for community-driven approaches, culturally sensitive applications, and ethical frameworks that ensure AI decisions align with medical standards and patient autonomy.
The Road Ahead
SORA operates within a growing ecosystem of health technology companies deploying drones and AI across Africa. The continent’s drone spraying market is valued at around $100 million, and investor interest in technology-driven health solutions is rising.
Yet success will depend on more than technology. Asantewaa is careful not to present SORA as a silver bullet, stressing the limits of data and the need for sustained government partnerships. “We want to support Africa within the resources we have,” she says. “We just need the right collaborators.”
For a continent that has fought malaria for centuries, SORA’s approach represents a fundamental shift—from reactive campaigns to predictive systems, from broad interventions to precision targeting. Whether AI and drones can finally turn the tide remains to be seen, but for the first time in decades, there are reasons for cautious optimism.
As SORA prepares for a future Series A funding round and deepens its presence across partner countries, the stakes could not be higher. Every algorithm refined, every drone deployed, every breeding site identified brings Africa one step closer to a future where no child dies from a mosquito bite.
This article is based on publicly available information and industry reports as of January 2026.
