Votek Inc, developer of Arabic speech recognition software, governmental intelligent assistants and the first Arabic smart toy (Loujee) announced today the closing of $1 million in seed round funding led by Elder-Marini Group.

Dr. Lojain Jibawi, cofounder and CEO of Votek states: "This financing will help us achieve three points: Firstly, it will attract more talents in artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP). Secondly, it will help expand our activities to more countries and new markets, and lastly, will allow us to invest more in R&D to develop new technologies.”

Jibawi added: “This funding will increase the appeal of AI engineers to join our company that allocates most of its funding to areas of research in computer science, AI, and computational linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages."

Votek, founded by, Dr. Lojain Jibawi and chief engineer Sawsan Saeed, began operating from Dubai Internet City in 2014 and has become the leading developer in providing speech recognition solutions. Votek developed the first Arabic intelligent assistant to one of the leading governmental entities in Dubai. The company then expanded its activities to the Middle East and became the leader in providing Arabic speech understanding and natural language processing, intelligence and assistant technology for several governmental services and leading companies in the region.

With the creation of Loujee, the Arabic smart toy, Votek has merged education and entertainment. Loujee aids and educates young learners of the Arabic language through interactive storytelling, enriching activities, general facts while enhancing Arabic vocabulary through friendly dialogue conversation.

Votek sold out of its entire stock through online sales prior to Loujee's presence in retail stores. The smart toy is set for re-release in the coming months in retail stores across the GCC. Loujee will be available with new activities and in various sizes.

"Votek's products offer us the unique opportunity to enter many new sectors such as education, medical, automotive and enterprise in a very short time," said Mahmoud Elder, Director of Elder-Marini Group. He added further: "As for Loujee, it is our introduction to the beauty of the Arabic language while making it easily accessible to a wider, younger demographic. We are thrilled to be working with Votek and we are confident that it will only grow from here."