Yali Labs
Pioneering AI for African Languages
Starting with Kinyarwanda, we build culturally attuned AI models to empower Africa's digital future.
Our Immediate Goal
$500K
Seed funding to revolutionize African AI,
pioneering with Kinyarwanda.
The AI Challenge in Africa
Current AI solutions often miss Africa’s linguistic and cultural nuances. Yali Labs is bridging that gap.
Language Gaps
Global AI models ignore African languages, limiting their utility and excluding millions.
Cultural Nuance
AI often fails to capture local context, idioms, and values crucial for effective application.
Data Scarcity
Lack of high-quality, digitized Kinyarwanda data hinders robust AI model training.
Talent & Infrastructure
Limited local AI expertise and infrastructure slow innovation and adoption.
Our Solution: ALTA
ALTA is a suite of AI models and enabling tools for African languages. We pioneered with Kinyarwanda, creating our flagship products: the ALTA Model (a foundational Kinyarwanda LLM in active development) and the ALTA Tokenizer (launched March 2025).
Building the future of African AI - 75% Towards ALTA Model V1
ALTA Model V1
A large language model trained natively in Kinyarwanda, designed for education, business, and government use cases.
- Context-aware, culturally relevant responses
- Extensible and adaptable for various applications
- Optimized for performance and efficiency
Why Build From Scratch?
Optimized for Kinyarwanda's unique structures.
Full control over data to reduce potential biases.
Creating a sovereign AI asset for Rwanda.
Cultivating specialized local AI talent.
Building from scratch ensures our models are truly African-first, not an afterthought.
Seed Stage Impact
With seed funding, we will launch 2–3 pilot projects in Rwanda to demonstrate immediate value and iterate.
Pilot Projects
Target high-impact pilots in government, education, or SMEs to show tangible benefits.
Data Loop & Validation
Create a rich feedback loop for continuous model improvement and product-market fit.
Talent Development
Grow local AI talent and foster investor confidence in African innovation.
Market Context
Africa’s AI market is growing ~30% annually. Rwanda has 12.4M+ native Kinyarwanda speakers, representing a prime initial market.
12.4M+
Native Kinyarwanda Speakers
~30%
Annual African AI Market Growth (Est.)
AI Market Growth (2022–2026 Proj.)
Languages in Rwanda (Illustrative)
12–18 Month Roadmap
Our focused plan for the seed stage to achieve key milestones.
Months 1-3: Foundation & Mobilization
- Secure seed funding and finalize key personnel hiring.
- Formalize data access partnerships and confirm initial pilot partners.
- Intensify Kinyarwanda data collection and pre-processing.
Months 4-9: Core Development & Initial Deployment
- Complete core training iterations for ALTA Model V1 (Kinyarwanda).
- Develop initial applications for pilot projects.
- Begin deployment and integration of Pilot Project 1.
- Secure compute resources for sustained operations.
Months 10-15: Pilot Execution, Refinement & Early API Dev
- Launch and gather feedback from Pilot Projects 1 & 2.
- Iteratively refine ALTA Model V1 based on real-world data.
- Develop initial API for controlled beta testing.
- Strategic planning for Series A funding.
Months 16-18: Analysis, Showcase & Future Scaling Strategy
- Analyze pilot outcomes and document key learnings.
- Showcase results to potential investors and customers.
- Outline strategy for scaling in Rwanda and initial steps for Swahili expansion (data scoping, feasibility).
Core Team
A passionate and skilled team dedicated to pioneering African Language AI.
Murwanashyaka Philbert
Head of Yali Labs
Strategy, Partnerships, Fundraising. 4 yrs in tech startups, ex-CTO INNORIOS.
Niyibizi Schadrack
Head of AI
Model Development, Technical Execution. 5+ yrs SE, MEng AI (CMU).
Hirwa Gael
Head of Data Engineering
Data Acquisition & Cleaning. Linguist, 6+ yrs data exp, BSc SE.
Uwisoneye Yvette
Data Scientist
Analysis & Evaluation. 2+ yrs data eng, BSc CompEng & AI, Pursuing MSc IT.
We are Expanding! With seed funding, we aim to hire additional Kinyarwanda Linguists/Data Annotators, an AI/ML Engineer, and a Software Engineer to accelerate our mission. A UI/UX designer may be engaged on a contract basis.
Future Vision
Our long-term ambition is to scale solutions across African languages and establish local AI infrastructure.
Scaling to More Languages
Post-seed, methodically extend ALTA to Swahili, and subsequently to other strategic African languages.
Local AI Infrastructure
Gradually build compute resources in-country, moving towards a hybrid model for sovereignty & scale.
Invest in the Future of African AI
Seeking $500,000 in seed funding to complete ALTA V1 for Kinyarwanda, execute 2-3 pilot projects, and plan for Swahili expansion.
Use of Proceeds (12-18 Months)
- Team Expansion (Salaries): ~40-50%
- Data Acquisition & Processing: ~15-20%
- Compute Resources: ~20-25%
- Pilot Execution & BizDev: ~5-10%
- Ops & Contingency: ~5-10%
Key Success Metrics for Seed Round
- ALTA Model V1 (Kinyarwanda) at benchmark accuracy.
- 2–3 successful pilot projects with measurable outcomes.
- MOUs with key data/pilot partners.
- Data-informed roadmap for Series A.
Contact: philbert@yalilabs.com | yalilabs.com (Example URL)