Hannu

What Hannu does

Hannu is a Lagos, Nigeria-headquartered private company (legal entity Hannu Limited, RC 9701373) operating a trust-and-payments infrastructure platform that lets AI agents and businesses hire KYC-verified human Operators for real-world tasks in Nigeria. Founded in 2026 and currently in private pilot with 1-10 employees, the company positions itself as the trust layer for AI agents' "last mile" — escrow-backed task creation, AI-and-human proof verification, and a signed Verified report returned to the buyer. The platform is accessed through two surfaces: a no-code web console for operations, compliance, and research teams, and a REST API plus MCP server for AI agents and developers. Workflow products package multi-step verified outcomes — deep business verification, property verification, KYC field checks, multi-site market surveys, lead qualification batches, and retail audits — as orderable SKUs, organized into four solutions verticals (KYC & Compliance, AI Labs & Data, Market Research & FMCG, Lending & Fintech).

Underlying the product surface are four infrastructure layers. The Proof & Verification pipeline screens every Operator submission with GPS geofence, EXIF freshness, duplicate detection, registry match (CAC/RC, BVN/NIN), and AI content-match against the task brief, with human review reserved for ambiguous cases; outputs are sealed into HMAC-signed Verified reports. The Wallet & Escrow system is an append-only, double-entry ledger where licensed partners (VFD, Quidax, Paystack) hold all funds and Hannu custodies ₦0 by design. Trust Passport provides KYC-verified (Smile ID, Dojah) portable identity and per-skill reputation with Pro and Elite tiers. Hannu Academy delivers continuous workforce coaching through micro-lessons, paid calibration challenges, and certifications earned on audited work. The Operator experience runs on WhatsApp Business Platform for low-end-Android reach.

Hannu monetizes via a 20% buyer-side platform take rate on Operator rewards (12% at committed volume), with 7.5% VAT on the fee only and 0% on Operator earnings. Distribution is dual-track: a product-led growth motion via console and API/MCP, paired with a sales-assisted enterprise motion for KYC, lending, fintech, and FMCG buyers. Geographic expansion is staged across additional Lagos zones, Abuja, Port Harcourt, then Ghana and Kenya, gated per zone on fill-rate and auto-pass metrics rather than calendar dates.

Name

Hannu

Legal name

Hannu Limited

Website

https://hannu.africa

Company type

Private

Founded year

2026

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Hannu is a Lagos-based trust infrastructure platform that enables AI agents and businesses to hire KYC-verified human Operators in Nigeria for real-world tasks, with escrow-backed payments, AI-and-human proof verification, and signed HMAC-verifiable reports.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI Agent Trust Infrastructure

NAICS

Investigation and Personal Background Check Services (561611), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

akta.pro primary industry

Fraud Prevention & Identity Verification (IDV/KYC) (BPAMAEAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Data, Evidence & Document Verification (IDV) for KYC (FSAMAMAN)

Keywords

• AI agent infrastructure
• Trust verification platform
• Escrow payment services
• KYC verification services
• Field data collection

Headquarters

HQ city

Lagos

HQ country

Nigeria

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Platform take rate on task value: Hannu charges a 20% platform fee on the Operator reward (buyer side), plus 7.5% VAT on the fee only. Operators receive 100% of their reward — the fee is never taken from their earnings. Volume take rate of 12% applies at committed volume.
2. Workflow product pricing: Packaged multi-step verified outcomes priced per unit (base + per-site/call/subject), volume-tiered. Examples: Deep business verification at ₦14,000/order; KYC field check at ₦7,200/order; Multi-site market survey from ₦17,000 (₦2,000/site, min 5).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Hannu operates a trust infrastructure platform that lets AI agents and businesses hire KYC-verified human Operators in Nigeria for real-world tasks (address verification, field checks, data collection, surveys, calls). Funds lock in escrow before any task exists, AI-and-human verification screens every submission, and an HMAC-signed Verified report is returned. The platform exposes a no-code Console for teams and an MCP/REST API for AI agents, with a built-in append-only ledger and licensed-partner money custody.

Product overview

Hannu is a trust-and-payments infrastructure platform that lets AI agents and businesses hire KYC-verified human Operators for real-world tasks, with escrow locked before work, AI-and-human proof verification, and a signed Verified report at the end. The platform has two access points: the no-code Console dashboard for operations and compliance teams, and the Task API & MCP for AI agents and developers who want programmatic, governed access. Underlying the product surface are four core infrastructure services — Proof & Verification (AI-and-human proof screening), Wallet & Escrow (append-only double-entry ledger, licensed-partner custody, ₦0 self-custody), and Trust Passport (KYC-verified portable operator identity and per-skill reputation). Academy provides continuous workforce training. Workflow products package multi-step verified outcomes (deep business verification, property verification, multi-site market survey, lead qualification batch, KYC field check, retail audit & mystery shop) as orderable SKUs. Solutions verticals (KYC & Compliance, AI Labs & Data, Market Research & FMCG, Lending & Fintech) present use-case groupings over the same underlying products. The platform is currently in private pilot in Lagos, Nigeria, with expansion gated on fill-rate and auto-pass metrics per zone.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Trust Passport: A portable, verified identity and reputation system for Operators that travels across tasks and clients.
• Hannu Academy

Products and services

• Task API & MCP A REST and Model Context Protocol (MCP) interface that lets AI agents and developers programmatically hire KYC-verified Operators, fund escrow, and receive signed Verified reports. Features idempotency keys, HMAC-signed webhooks, spend caps, kill switches, and scoped revocable API keys tied to KYB-verified org owners.
• Console (No-code dashboard) A self-serve web console for operations, compliance and research teams to create and fund tasks, watch verification happen live, and download signed Verified reports without engineering. Includes wallet management, receipts, and a full audit trail.
• Workflow products (packaged multi-step verified outcomes) Packaged multi-step verified outcomes ordered as SKUs — the platform orchestrates every step (Operators, data-source checks, QA) and returns one signed Verified report. Priced per unit and volume-tiered (e.g., ₦2,000/site for multi-site surveys).
• Deep business verification Confirms a business is real and operating by matching against the CAC/RC registry, conducting a line check, and visiting the premises on-site for dated, geotagged photos and an owner interview. Returned as one signed Verified report.
• Property verification Confirms a property and its condition on the ground — title-adjacent registry checks, an on-site visit with a 20-photo geotagged set, and a neighbour interview to corroborate occupancy. Returned as one signed Verified report.
• Multi-site market survey Captures price, shelf and availability across many markets at once — parallel field visits in each location, reconciled and aggregated into one clean, comparable signed dataset.
• Lead qualification batch Verifies and qualifies a batch of leads by phone and in person — each contact reached and scored at the source, returned as structured CRM-ready records with evidence attached.
• KYC field check Field-verifies an identity or business address the same day — a BVN/NIN match plus an in-person address and liveness-adjacent confirmation, signed and ready for the compliance file.
• Retail audit & mystery shop Audits shelf, price and brand compliance in store — structured forms and photo proof captured on the visit, anonymous to the store but fully attributable to the buyer. Returned as a scored multi-point workflow.
• Proof & Verification The verification intelligence layer: every Operator submission is screened by AI (geofence, EXIF, freshness, duplicate, content-match against brief, registry confirmation) and confirmed by people where the AI is uncertain. Sealed into an HMAC-signed Verified report — the proof checklist, sources matched, confidence score, and HMAC signature — recomputable by the buyer's own systems.
• Wallet & Escrow The financial rails layer: funds lock in escrow atomically at task creation (reward + platform fee + VAT), are held by licensed partners while Hannu custodies ₦0, and release only when proof verifies. Refunds reverse the full charge on failure; disputes freeze funds until adjudication. Recorded in an append-only, double-entry ledger reconciled hourly against partner statements.
• Trust Passport A portable, verified identity and per-skill reputation that travels with every Operator from task to task. Anchored to government-ID KYC (BVN/NIN) with liveness checks at onboarding and task-time signals. Reputation is event-sourced per skill, recomputable from history, and computed into Pro and Elite tiers. Buyers see attribute bands and reputation — never names, ID numbers, or contact details.
• Academy A continuous closed-loop training system for the Operator workforce. Diagnoses skill gaps from rejections, delivers targeted micro-lessons (voice-first, in the Operator's language), runs paid calibration challenges before new skill attempts, and awards certifications earned on audited real tasks. Free for Operators.

Quantifiable outcome

• Payout latency target: p95 < 60 minutes for verified proof
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration11 records

AI capability7 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• PaystackcoreTechnology or IntegrationPayments and wallet funding infrastructure. Hannu integrates Paystack for wallet top-ups by transfer or card. Card funding carries a published 4% surcharge.
• VFDcoreTechnology or IntegrationLicensed banking partner. VFD holds funds in escrow as part of Hannu's never-custody model — Hannu records movements in its ledger but never holds money directly.
• QuidaxcoreTechnology or IntegrationTreasury rails partner for naira-denominated transactions. Part of the licensed-partner infrastructure that holds and moves funds without Hannu taking custody.
• Smile IDcoreTechnology or IntegrationIdentity verification and KYC partner for Operator onboarding. Government-ID-anchored KYC plus liveness checks anchor every Operator's Trust Passport.
• DojahcoreTechnology or IntegrationIdentity verification and KYC partner alongside Smile ID for Operator onboarding, providing BVN/NIN matching and liveness confirmation.
• WhatsApp Business PlatformcoreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary Operator experience surface. Operators receive task offers, accept work, and submit proof via WhatsApp — chosen for WhatsApp-first, low-end-Android compatibility.
• CAC/RC RegistrycoreTechnology or IntegrationCorporate Affairs Commission (Nigeria) registry used for business verification — registry match against CAC/RC is a core verification check in every business verification task.
• BVN/NIN MatchcoreTechnology or IntegrationBank Verification Number and National Identification Number matching is used for KYC field checks and identity verification, anchored at Operator onboarding and used in KYC workflows.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Premise Data: Premise operates a global network of contributors capturing crowdsourced field data — price checks, retail audits, and verification — for enterprises and governments. Closest direct peer to Hannu's field-verification, photo-capture, and multi-site market survey products.
• Toloka: Toloka is a crowdsourcing platform for AI data labeling, data collection, and human-in-the-loop evaluation by verified contributors. Comparable to Hannu in offering governed access to verified human contributors for AI training data, gold-task quality gating, and contributor reputation.
• Field Agent: Field Agent pays consumers to complete retail audits, shelf checks, and mystery shops for brands and research firms. Direct overlap with Hannu's retail audit, mystery shop, and price-check workflow products in Africa.
• Gigwalk: Gigwalk is a mobile workforce platform for in-store audits, merchandising checks, and field intelligence for CPG brands. Comparable to Hannu's market research and FMCG solutions vertical with similar photo-proof, GPS, and task-based operator model.
• BeMyEye: BeMyEye runs a crowdsourced network for retail execution, shelf auditing, and in-store data capture across Europe. Comparable to Hannu on the workflow-product (retail audit / mystery shop) side and on geotagged proof verification.

Broad incumbents

• Appen: Appen is a global incumbent providing training data for AI systems, including data annotation, collection, and transcription across many languages and modalities. Broad incumbent offering overlapping capabilities with Hannu's AI Labs & Data vertical.
• Scale AI: Scale AI is a leading data labeling and AI evaluation platform with Remotasks-style contributor networks. Broad incumbent with overlapping AI data labeling, evaluation, and human-in-the-loop capability to Hannu's AI Labs & Data offering.
• TaskRabbit: TaskRabbit operates a marketplace connecting consumers to local task-doers (errands, deliveries, handyman work). Comparable in the general "task marketplace" model but without KYC-anchored Operator identity, escrow-first ledger, or agent-native API.

Emerging players

• Veriff: Veriff is an identity verification platform providing AI-driven document and biometric verification for KYC and AML compliance. Comparable to the Trust Passport / KYC Field Check side of Hannu but digital-first; Hannu extends identity checks into physical, in-person field verification.

Others

• Andela: Andela is an African-focused marketplace connecting global companies to vetted African software engineering talent. Adjacent ecosystem participant — shares African talent-pool DNA and trust/verification framing, but operates in software engineering rather than field task work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/hannuafrica
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hannuafrica

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Hannu