Decagon

What Decagon does

Decagon (legally Decagon Services Inc, operating as DecagonHQ) is a private talent staffing and training company founded in 2018 and headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, with operating bases in Austin, Texas and Berlin, Germany. The company's core business is the Fellowship Program, an annual subscription service in which enterprise and mid-market clients hire pre-vetted remote software engineers sourced and trained through Decagon's own Software Engineering Training Institute, which the company ranks as #1 in Africa. Engineers go through a 2-month unpaid internship at the client and then commit to a 2-year contract, during which they are paid 250,000 Naira (net) in Year 1 and 300,000 Naira (net) in Year 2 by the client via Decagon's payroll, with a N1,500,000 financial penalty for early exit without valid grounds. Subscription pricing is tiered: Tier 1 allows up to 4 engineer hires per year and Tier 2 allows up to 10, with both priced as annual subscriptions and supported by Decagon-led performance management.

Decagon's go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting medium-to-large companies with engineering managers, with named client evidence spanning African banks and fintechs (Carbon, Access Bank, Union Bank, Sterling Bank, RenMoney, Opay), consumer goods (Nestle), payments (Mastercard), and US-based engagements for Fortune 500 brands (Merck, Nike, Budweiser, Nokia) routed through Vertex. The company also runs content marketing through a corporate blog and organic social channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram), and reports referral/word-of-mouth as an acquisition source. In March 2026 Decagon launched a new product line, the NIL Platform (nil.decagonhq.com), enabling individuals to monetize their name, image, and likeness—an extension outside engineering staffing.

Financially, Decagon is a privately held company that has disclosed approximately $26.6 million in cumulative funding, dominated by a $25 million August 2021 round from the Central Bank of Nigeria and Sterling Bank alongside earlier seed capital from Kepple Africa Ventures, MEST, Timon Capital, UNITED, and a 2022 follow-on from Ardent Capital and Kaleo Ventures. No revenue, ARR, or valuation figures are disclosed. Leadership is anchored by founder and CEO Chika Nwobi (also a Unilever board member and partner at Rise Capital) with board members Laurens Kreuze (KPMG Netherlands partner), Emilly Liggett (ex-McKinsey, Stanford MBA, former NASDAQ-listed CEO), and Jody Ike (Thunderbird MBA, Global Innovation & Marketing). Headcount is reported at 251-500 employees.

Name

Decagon

Legal name

Decagon Services Inc

Website

https://decagonhq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Decagon is a Lagos-headquartered, US-incorporated talent staffing firm that recruits, trains, and places top-decile African software engineers with enterprise clients worldwide via an annual Fellowship subscription and 2-year engineer contracts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering Talent Staffing

NAICS

Computer Training (61142), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Custom Corporate IT Training & Upskilling Programs (BPAEANAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Technical Bootcamps & Accelerated Reskilling (Full-time/Part-time) (BPAEANAE)

Keywords

• Remote engineering talent
• Software talent staffing
• Engineering fellowship program
• Tech recruitment services
• Developer placement services

Headquarters

HQ city

Lagos

HQ country

Nigeria

HQ region

Africa

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Annual Subscription - Fellowship Program: Companies pay annual subscription fees to access the Decagon Fellowship Program, which allows them to hire vetted software engineers who commit to 2-year contracts. Subscription tiers determine the number of engineers hireable per year. The company also facilitates payment processing for engineer salaries (250,000 Naira Year 1, 300,000 Naira Year 2).
2. Talent Placement and Management: Revenue generated through placement of trained engineers with client companies, with ongoing talent management and performance evaluation services included in the subscription.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Decagon provides companies with vetted remote software engineers through its Decagon Fellowship Program, in which engineers recruited from the top 0.5% of talent complete a 2-month free internship followed by a 2-year contractual commitment with the client. The offering combines recruiting, training, ongoing HR management, and work infrastructure, with annual subscription tiers (Tier 1: up to 4 engineers/year; Tier 2: up to 10 engineers/year). The company also launched a Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) platform for personal brand monetization.

Product overview

Decagon is a talent staffing and training company that operates a unified platform combining recruitment, training, and talent management services. The core offering is the Fellowship Program, which provides access to vetted remote software engineers trained through Decagon's own Software Engineering Training Institute (ranked #1 in Africa). Recently, Decagon expanded its portfolio with the launch of a NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) Platform. The company sources talent from Africa with operating bases in Lagos, Nigeria; Austin, Texas; and Berlin, Germany, and serves clients globally including in Austin, NYC, Berlin, London, and Rome. Engineers are available across multiple technology specializations including React, Node.js, Python, Java, C#, Android, iOS, React Native, and more.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Decagon Fellowship Program: A program that provides companies access to well-trained developers from the top 0.5% of engineering talent, featuring a 2-month free internship followed by a 2-year talent commitment.
• NIL Platform

Products and services

• Decagon Fellowship Program Annual subscription program that gives companies access to vetted remote software engineers from the top 0.5% of engineering talent, with a 2-month free internship followed by a 2-year contractual commitment and dedicated performance management support. Available in two tiers (up to 4 or up to 10 engineers per year), with engineer salaries paid through Decagon at 250,000 Naira Year 1 and 300,000 Naira Year 2.
• Decagon NIL Platform Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) platform that enables individuals (such as athletes) to monetize their personal brand through their name, image, and likeness.

Quantifiable outcome

• Engineers complete code on complex Fortune 500 client projects within their first week
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Upwork: Upwork is the largest global freelance marketplace, including a substantial software-engineering category. It competes with Decagon at the lower end of remote engineering hiring but lacks Decagon's curated-training and long-term-commitment model for enterprise buyers.
• Deel: Deel is a leading global HR and payroll platform for international contractor and employee management. Like Remote, it is an enabling/competing alternative for the cross-border employment layer that Decagon's fellowship program encapsulates.
• Remote: Remote provides global employment, payroll, and contractor management infrastructure used by companies hiring internationally. While not a direct talent-staffing competitor, Remote is an adjacent solution that enterprise buyers evaluating Decagon's offering may consider as an alternative.

Emerging players

• Pesto Tech: Pesto is a tech career accelerator and talent placement company focused on Indian developers, similar in model to Decagon's training-then-placement approach. While geographically distinct, it represents the same talent-arbitrage category targeting engineering teams.
• Hired (LHH): Hired is a tech-recruitment marketplace that matches vetted software engineers with employers. Owned by LHH (Adecco Group), it competes with Decagon for the engineering-talent-placement category, though with a marketplace rather than managed-services model.

Direct peers

• Andela: Andela is the most direct competitor to Decagon: it sources, trains, and places vetted African (and increasingly global) software engineers with enterprise clients on long-term contracts. Both companies target the same Fortune 500 buyer and compete on engineering quality, geographic arbitrage, and talent pipeline depth.
• Toptal: Toptal operates a global marketplace for the top 3% of freelance software engineers, serving enterprise clients with vetted remote talent. While its sourcing is global rather than Africa-focused, it competes with Decagon for the same enterprise buyer seeking pre-vetted remote engineers on multi-month engagements.
• Crossover: Crossover recruits and manages full-time remote software engineers for enterprise teams using a rigorous vetting process. It targets the same enterprise engineering manager buyer as Decagon and competes on remote-talent quality and long-term engagements.
• Turing: Turing provides AI-vetted remote software engineers from a global talent pool to enterprise customers. It competes directly with Decagon in the pre-vetted, long-term remote engineering placement category and offers a similar value proposition of quality, scale, and geographic arbitrage.

Regional players

• Cohora: Cohora was a customer-loyalty platform, but is not directly comparable; omitted. Instead including ALX Africa as a regional talent-training peer with software engineering programs feeding employer pipelines in Africa, comparable to Decagon's training-institute feeder model.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/decagonins
• Facebookweb.facebook.com/decagonhq
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/decagon
• Instagraminstagram.com/decagonhq

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Decagon