LOCAL SPOTLIGHT: Saheed Akinbile: The Lagos-Raised Engineer Helping AI Work With Older Software

At Ford, Saheed Akinbile worked on software that used cameras and sensors to help cars park in a spot chosen by the driver.

The Lagos-raised engineer moved to Canada at 18, intending to study mechanical engineering. He chose software engineering at the University of Ottawa and went on to work on the kind of technology that first drew him to engineering: cars.

Now Akinbile works on a different problem. He and Faizaan Chishtie co-founded Minicor, a San Francisco startup that helps businesses use artificial intelligence with the computer programs they already have.

An early request helped shape the company’s work. A prospective customer wanted to connect an AI tool to a medical records system, but the older program had no built-in way to communicate with it. Minicor builds software that lets newer tools carry out tasks in older programs. That means a business can automate some of its routine work while keeping the system its staff already use.

In October, Minicor announced that it had raised $3.8 million in early funding. IA Ventures led the round, with support from Y Combinator and other investors.