Helium Health, a Nigerian healthtech startup, has secured a ₦3.4 billion ($2.5 million) grant from Google.org, tech giant Google’s philanthropic arm, to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) tools that help identify pregnancy risks and improve maternal healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
The funding will support the rollout of HeliumMum, the company’s maternal health initiative that aims to reach 1.9 million pregnant women over three years. The programme will begin in Lagos, the initiative’s operational base, before expanding to Delta, Kano, and Oyo states.
Nigeria contributes nearly 10% of global maternal deaths, and Helium Health hopes its AI-powered intervention will help address this burden by identifying pregnancy complications earlier and connecting women to appropriate care, and contribute to a 30% reduction in maternal mortality.
“For the past decade, Helium Health has been building the technology and partnerships needed to improve healthcare delivery across Africa,” Dimeji Sofowora, Helium Health’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Through our maternal health initiatives, we’ve already reached over 3.5 million women, and Google.org’s support gives us an opportunity to build on that foundation, scale what works, and reach even more women with quality maternal healthcare.”
The grant comes three months after Adegoke Olubusi, Helium Health’s co-founder and CEO, stepped down after nearly a decade, handing leadership to Sofowora, another co-founder who assumed the role in August. The leadership change followed the departure of another co-founder, Tito Ovia, in 2022, leaving Sofowora as the last founding team member actively involved in leading the business.
Helium Health was the only Nigerian organisation selected among 15 recipients of Google.org’s $30 million Impact Challenge: AI for Government Innovation, announced in September 2026. The challenge supports organisations working with governments to use AI to improve public services, including healthcare.
The funding will finance the deployment of AI-powered clinical decision-support tools within primary maternal healthcare services. Through HeliumMum, the company wants to help community health workers identify potential pregnancy complications earlier and connect expectant mothers to appropriate healthcare providers. The system will combine AI-driven risk detection with electronic medical records and clinical decision-support tools used by healthcare providers.
Helium Health says it has already reached more than 3.5 million women through its maternal health initiatives. With the Google.org funding, it wants to reach another 1.9 million. The company will also receive technical support from Google engineers and AI product experts through a dedicated Google.org Accelerator.
“AI holds incredible potential to transform public services, but there is often a gap between promise and practice,” said Maggie Johnson, Global Head of Google.org. “By equipping the 15 selected organisations with funding and pro bono support from Google’s own AI experts, we are empowering the people closest to the problem to show what is truly possible. Together, we can ensure that AI makes a profound, positive difference in the everyday lives of communities worldwide.”
Founded in 2014 by Olubusi, Sofowora, and Ovia, Helium Health started by building electronic medical records and hospital management software to help healthcare providers digitise patient records. Over time, the company expanded and began offering tools for medical records, billing, practice management, and healthcare financing. In June 2023, Helium Health raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by AXA IM Alts, bringing its disclosed funding at the time to about $40 million.
The grant also comes as Nigerian healthtech companies face a more challenging fundraising environment. According to TechCabal Insights’ State of Healthtech in Nigeria 2026 report, funding into the sector peaked at nearly $55 million in 2023 before falling to approximately $18 million in 2024 and $3 million in 2025. The decline is due to the high costs of building healthcare infrastructure and slow adoption of digital tools.
Google.org’s grant will help Helium Health expand beyond digitising healthcare facilities into delivering AI-powered public health services. It could also bring the company’s technology closer to primary healthcare centres and community health workers who may not have the clinical support needed to identify high-risk pregnancies early and ensure women receive timely care.
“Ultimately, we want to ensure that no woman loses her life simply because she didn’t know she was at risk or couldn’t access the care she needed,” Dr Shona Oluwatola, Head of Public Health at Helium Health, added.