Across the world, artificial intelligence is redefining how businesses operate, how societies function, and how economies evolve. At the centre of this movement is LingTec AI, a Nigerian startup building what its founders describe as the “human intelligence infrastructure” that powers artificial intelligence.
Co-founded by Abayomi Falansa and Gabriel Nonso, the company has created a data annotation and language service marketplace that connects global AI companies with vetted annotators and linguists across developing regions.
In this edition of Techparley’s DRIVE100, where we spotlight the most promising startups shaping Africa’s digital future, we turn our attention to LingTec AI, a data annotation and language service marketplace platform that is redefining how global AI companies connect with emerging-market talent.
“LingTec AI is a data annotation and language service marketplace platform that connects global AI companies with skilled annotators and linguists across Africa and Asia,” Falansa, CEO and Co-founder of LingTec AI told Techparley. “We’re building the infrastructure that powers artificial intelligence — the human intelligence layer behind AI systems.”
What You Should Know
According to the founders, LingTec AI is not just solving a technical problem, it’s rewriting the economics of AI participation. It’s transforming underutilised human talent into productive digital capital, and in doing so, redefining Africa’s role in the AI economy.
Artificial intelligence systems depend on vast amounts of precisely labelled data to function accurately. Yet, for many global companies, finding reliable, scalable, and affordable annotation teams remains one of the most pressing operational bottlenecks.
On the other hand, millions of digitally skilled young people across Africa and Asia have the technical capability and internet access to contribute, but limited access to global opportunities.
Through its end-to-end platform, LingTec AI enables AI companies to post projects, while automatically matching them with vetted annotators. Payments are processed securely through an integrated wallet, ensuring transparency and instant compensation.
How It’s Solving a Dual Problem
The startup’s impact runs in two directions.
For AI companies, LingTec AI says it makes data annotation faster, cheaper, and more reliable, tapping into a distributed network of skilled annotators.
For the annotators and linguists themselves, it creates real economic empowerment, a gateway to consistent digital jobs and income.
“This means real economic empowerment and inclusion. We’re helping people across Africa and Asia participate directly in building and shaping the global AI ecosystem,” Falansa said.
So far, the platform has built a workforce of 80 active annotators and a database of over 400 trained professionals, generating more than $25,000 in project revenue and $17,000 in profit, all before its official product launch.
According to Falansa, clients including Uber (via Translated), TikTok (via Future Trans), and LatinoBridge already trust LingTec AI to power their localisation and model training projects.
The Marketplace Advantage
Unlike traditional annotation vendors such as Appen, Scale AI, or Remotasks, LingTec AI operates as a tech-enabled marketplace, not a managed agency.
“LingTec AI stands out because we’re not just another data annotation agency, we’re building a marketplace infrastructure that connects global AI companies directly with vetted annotators and linguists across Africa and Asia,” Falansa explained.
Key to this model is its integrated payment system, which removes one of the biggest barriers for emerging-market freelancers: irregular or delayed payments. Annotators on LingTec AI are paid instantly upon task approval.
The platform also includes built-in quality assurance mechanisms, with annotators undergoing training, testing, and performance tracking. This ensures annotation accuracy that rivals, and often surpasses that of larger competitors, but at a fraction of the cost.
A Team Built for Scale
Behind LingTec AI is a lean but experienced team.
Falansa leads global strategy and partnerships, leveraging years of experience in AI data operations and language project management.
Gabriel Nonso, CTO & Co-Founder of the startup, oversees technology and automation, spearheading the development of Lingo Marketplace, the startup’s upcoming MVP.
“We’re a mission-driven, experienced team that combines hands-on project expertise, operational leadership, and technical capability to build the infrastructure that will connect emerging-market talent to the global AI economy,” Falansa notes.
Supporting them is Abisola Olapo, Vice President of Operations & Projects, who manages daily workflows, workforce coordination, and client delivery — ensuring that even at scale, the startup maintains the human touch that defines its mission.
Challenges That Shaped the Mission
Like any early-stage venture, LingTec AI has faced its share of challenges. Recruiting and training reliable annotators across multiple countries was daunting at first, especially when most had never worked on structured AI data projects.
To address this, the team introduced a screening and onboarding process that verifies skills before assignments. They also automated payments, improving reliability and retention.
Gaining trust from international clients as a pre-product startup was another hurdle. But strategic networking and successful pilot projects soon paid off. The team delivered several projects for Uber, TikTok, and LatinoBridge, securing $25,000 in revenue and validating their model.
Operational complexity also tested their systems. Managing hundreds of annotators across time zones demanded precision. LingTec AI responded by developing internal dashboards for project tracking, quality control, and communication, turning what could have been chaos into a smooth workflow engine.
From Startup to Infrastructure Builder
Over the next 6–12 months, LingTec AI plans to launch its Lingo Marketplace MVP, a full automation of client–annotator matching, payment, and project management.
The company aims to grow its workforce from 80 to 5,000 trained annotators, reach $100,000 in revenue, and onboard at least ten new international clients within a year.
Its long-term goal is to become the largest AI data and language service marketplace focused on emerging markets, with over 10,000 sustainable digital jobs created across Africa and Asia within five years.
Globally, the data-annotation services market is set for rapid expansion, with a projected jump to $38.11 billion by 2035. This highlights the size and growth dynamics of the markets of data-annotation, which underpin LingTec AI’s proposition of connecting global AI firms with emerging-market linguists and annotators.
A Call for Smarter Ecosystem Support
Falansa believes governments can accelerate innovation by providing the right policy and infrastructure support.
If he were Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, he says he would focus on:
- Establishing a National AI and Digital Innovation Fund for early-stage startups.
- Simplifying regulatory frameworks for digital businesses.
- Investing in digital infrastructure and skills development programmes.
- Facilitating global partnerships to connect local startups with international markets.
“A government can accelerate startup growth by combining funding, policy clarity, talent development, infrastructure, and international partnerships,” he says. “For startups like LingTec AI, such measures would unlock large-scale job creation, position the country as a hub for AI innovation, and boost the digital economy.”
For all its ambition, experts say LingTec AI’s story is fundamentally one about inclusion, and it’s a platform that transforms underutilised human talent into the driving force behind artificial intelligence.
Talking Points
It is remarkable how LingTec AI is positioning itself as the backbone of the global artificial intelligence economy by building the human intelligence layer that trains machine learning models.
At a time when data annotation remains one of the most overlooked yet essential parts of AI development, LingTec AI is putting African and Asian talent at the centre of this transformation.
By focusing on emerging markets, the company is unlocking a vast pool of skilled but underutilised digital workers, transforming them into valuable contributors to the world’s AI ecosystem. This approach not only bridges a talent gap but also creates new income streams and opportunities for young people in developing regions.
At Techparley, we see LingTec AI as a compelling example of how technology can decentralise opportunity. The platform’s marketplace model, which automates project matching, payments, and quality verification, sets it apart from traditional outsourcing agencies.
As LingTec AI expands, strategic partnerships could amplify its reach. With the right backing, the company could evolve into Africa’s leading gateway for human-powered AI services, a true bridge between global innovation and local opportunity.
——————-
Bookmark Techparley.com for the most insightful technology news from the African continent.
Follow us on Twitter @Techparleynews, on Facebook at Techparley Africa, on LinkedIn at Techparley Africa, or on Instagram at Techparleynews.
