Perle Labs Hits 1 Million Annotators and 1 Billion Points

Perle Labs just crossed two major milestones at once: 1 million annotators and 1 billion points distributed. Annotators are the people who review, label, and verify the data that AI models learn from. Points are the onchain rewards they earn for completing those tasks. The Solana-based project announced the numbers on February 18, barely a month after Season 1 kicked off in January 2026. For a platform built around the idea that AI needs real human expertise to improve, that adoption curve is hard to ignore.

What Does Perle Labs Actually Do?

Perle Labs is a web3 platform that connects subject-matter experts with enterprises and AI labs. Their role is simple: provide quality, human-verified training data for AI models. Think of it as the layer between the people who know things and the companies that need that knowledge baked into their AI systems.

Annotators complete tasks such as multimodal data annotation, labeling, cleaning, and evaluation. Every contribution, reward, and credential gets recorded onchain through Solana. No black boxes.

The platform powers Perle.ai on the enterprise side, where companies can tap into custom data workflows for mission-critical AI applications. Together, the web3 contributor network and enterprise platform create a feedback loop: AI builders receive high-quality data, and global contributors are fairly compensated for their expertise.

The team behind it comes from Scale AI, Meta, Amazon, and MIT. CEO and Founder Ahmed Rashad leads the project alongside Arthur Ding as Chief Crypto Officer. The company has raised $17.5 million in total funding, including a $9 million seed round led by Framework Ventures with participation from CoinFund, HashKey Capital, and others.

Why Do These Numbers Matter?

Reaching 1 million annotators is not just a vanity metric. In the AI training data space, the quality of human input directly determines the quality of the output model. More annotators means a broader pool of expertise, which means more diverse and reliable training data for enterprise clients.

The 1 billion points distributed in roughly one month tells a different story. It shows that contributors are not just signing up, they are actively working rather than sitting on idle accounts. Points in Season 1 serve as the reward mechanism for annotator contributions, and that volume of distribution signals real usage.

Perle Labs positions itself as a "sovereign data layer" for AI, arguing that the future of AI training should rely on verified human judgment rather than synthetic or opaque data sources. At a time when concerns about AI hallucinations and data quality dominate the conversation, that pitch resonates.

What Sets Perle Apart From Other AI Data Platforms?

The onchain component is the key differentiator. Traditional AI data labeling platforms operate behind closed doors. You contribute work, you get paid, and that's where the relationship ends. There is no way to verify how your data was used or whether you were fairly compensated relative to the value you created.

Perle flips that by putting contributions on Solana. Every task completed, every point earned, and every credential issued lives onchain. For annotators, that means a verifiable track record of expertise. For enterprises, it means auditable data provenance. That matters more every month as AI training data regulations tighten worldwide.

Originally founded in March 2024 under the name KIVA AI, Perle launched its Labs platform in beta last fall. The speed from beta to 1 million users suggests strong product-market fit in a space that is only going to get more competitive as AI scaling demands grow.

What Comes Next?

Community reactions to the announcement have been mostly celebratory, though contributors are already asking the obvious questions about quality controls and a potential token generation event. Perle Labs has not confirmed TGE details, but with $17.5 million in funding and a million-strong contributor base, the foundation is there.

For now, the focus seems to be on scaling the annotator network and deepening enterprise partnerships. If the first month of Season 1 is any indication, the next few months should be worth watching.

To learn more, visit perle.xyz or follow @PerleLabs on X.

Sources:

• Perle Labs (@PerleLabs) on X - Official announcement of 1 million annotators and 1 billion points milestones, February 18, 2026
• Perle Labs - Official web3 platform site with contributor and project details
• Perle AI — Enterprise-facing platform for expert-in-the-loop data annotation and AI data services
• PR Newswire - $9M seed round announcement with funding and team details, August 7, 2025
• The Block - Independent coverage of Framework Ventures-led seed round