Perle Labs AI Data Platform Goes Live on Solana
Perle Labs, a Web3 AI data platform for creating expert-verified datasets, is now live on Solana. The project, which has reportedly raised $17.5 million in funding, allows its network of over one million annotators to earn on-chain rewards for their work. The launch adds a new dimension to Solana's growing AI ecosystem.
- The project is backed by high-profile VCs, having raised $17.5 million across two seed rounds led by Framework Ventures and CoinFund, with participation from HashKey Capital, Protagonist, and Peer VC. - Perle's founding team consists of AI veterans from major tech companies and institutions, including Scale AI, Meta, Amazon, and MIT. The CEO, Ahmed Rashad, previously worked at Scale AI and is an MIT alumnus. - The platform is designed to move beyond generic data labeling into specialized, high-value domains; "Season 1," which launched in January 2026, introduced expert data verification tasks for the healthcare, legal, and robotics sectors. - Contributor activity is recorded on the Solana blockchain to build a verifiable, on-chain reputation. This system is designed to reward accuracy and consistency, allowing users with higher reputations to access more valuable tasks. - While a native token has not been officially confirmed, the platform's ecosystem incorporates a points system, on-chain contribution records, and NFT qualification badges, strongly suggesting a potential future airdrop for early participants. - The strategic move to Solana is intended to leverage the network's high speed and low transaction costs to manage millions of "micro-events" transparently, creating cryptographic audit trails for the data annotation process. - Perle Labs joins a growing AI ecosystem on Solana that includes projects like Nosana (decentralized GPU marketplace), gm.ai (dApp user experience), and io.net (decentralized computing). The Solana Foundation's Head of AI has publicly endorsed Perle's approach. - The platform recently introduced new tasks, including an "Emotional Speech Recording Quest" and an "Ambiguous Instruction Identification Quest," rewarding participants with up to 1,500 points for their contributions.