Two Zimbabwean entrepreneurs, Michael Moyo and Louis Murerwa, recently raised US$2 million in pre-seed funding for their artificial intelligence startup, Ocular AI, as the company looks to improve how AI systems learn from human conversations.

The funding round was led by US-based venture capital firm Drive Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, Alumni Ventures, 1745 Ventures, Orange Collective, MyAsia VC and a group of angel investors.

Ocular AI focuses on developing specialised datasets, evaluation tools and benchmarks that help AI companies train and test advanced models. Its work initially centred on voice technology, addressing a challenge with conventional AI systems: important details of human conversation can be lost when speech is converted into text.

These details include accents, pauses, tone, interruptions and instances where people speak over one another. By capturing these elements, Ocular AI aims to help developers build systems that understand and respond to people more naturally.

The company has also expanded into audiovisual data, allowing AI systems to analyse speech alongside visual cues such as facial expressions and gestures.

According to the company, its datasets and evaluation tools are already being used by leading AI research laboratories and Fortune 100 companies. It has also built a network of thousands of vetted specialists who contribute expertise to its data operations.

Moyo serves as the company’s chief executive officer and co-founder, while Murerwa is its chief technology officer and co-founder. Murerwa previously worked as a software engineer at Google, while Moyo has a background in computer and biomedical engineering.

The latest funding will support the expansion of Ocular AI’s research and data operations, including plans for an Applied AI Data Research Lab and further development of its tools for evaluating conversational AI.

The investment marks another milestone for the Zimbabwean-founded company as it seeks to address a growing need for high-quality data in the development of more capable AI systems.