The company’s AI agents can automate up to 75% of tasks typically handled by data scientists and engineers. These advanced systems, powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), are capable of processing large volumes of data, spotting patterns, and making decisions, offering a practical alternative to manual expertise.

Through its unique service-as-a-software model, RapidCanvas enables businesses to adopt customised AI solutions without needing in-house technical expertise. 

In combining these AI tools with expert support, the company is making AI-powered transformation more accessible for enterprises.

The Series A funding round was led by Peak XV, with additional participation from Titanium Ventures and existing investors Accel and Valley Capital Partners. This brings RapidCanvas’s total funding to over $23.5M since its inception in 2021. 

Although Gartner predicts over 80% of enterprises will implement AI-powered processes in the coming years, 68% of executives cite a lack of technical talent as a critical barrier. 

Data scientists and engineers are expensive and often tied up in repetitive coding and data transformation tasks – stretching out AI implementation, delaying return on investment (ROI), and stalling business growth.

Unlike traditional software that merely enables humans to do tasks quicker, RapidCanvas’s AI agents can absorb and process information at an unprecedented scale, reading thousands of pages in seconds and performing tasks that would take humans days to complete. 

Uniquely, the platform adopts a hybrid approach that combines the power of AI agents with human expertise. While AI agents can handle up to 70% of coding tasks faster and more cost-effectively than humans, the remaining 30% of expert tasks—such as system design, hypothesis testing, and creative problem-solving—still require human intervention. 

This model allows RapidCanvas to deliver superior results with significantly fewer human resources, typically requiring only 1 or 2 expert engineers whereas traditional firms might employ 10.

This ‘Service-as-Software’ approach is particularly effective in areas like coding, where AI agents can handle much of the routine, repeatable tasks. The market potential for this is staggering. 

With over 30 million software engineers and data scientists globally representing nearly $1 trillion in salaries, RapidCanvas estimates that 70% of these tasks can be performed by AI agents, freeing them to focus on valuable work that drives business growth.

RapidCanvas was founded by veterans of AI-powered business transformation. Co-founders Rahul Pangam and Uttam Phalnikar previously built Simility, an AI-powered risk management platform acquired by PayPal. Their technology was later integrated into PayPal’s global fraud detection operations. 

The duo’s deep expertise in AI implementation and its real-world impact drives their vision and mission to make AI accessible and effective for businesses of all sizes. The duo has also assembled a seasoned leadership team that has been part of multiple successful startup exits – including 5 IPOs.

“At RapidCanvas, we’re revolutionizing how businesses solve complex challenges by seamlessly integrating the power of generative AI with the expertise of domain specialists,” said Rahul Pangam, CEO and co-founder of RapidCanvas. 

“Our context-aware AI agents automate critical tasks like data preparation, transformation, and modelling, allowing business users to create tailored AI solutions using simple natural language prompts. With our expert-in-the-loop approach, we ensure human oversight at key decision points, validating outcomes and delivering real-world impact. 

“Moreover, our Reliable AI framework ensures all outputs are validated, secure and explainable. This customer-centric approach empowers businesses to achieve results in days or weeks, not months—at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. This funding round will accelerate our mission to make trusted, efficient AI transformation accessible to more enterprises.”

The company’s ‘Service-as-Software’ model marks an entirely new era in automation. For the past 25 years, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has dominated the software landscape. Although SaaS tools drive efficiency gains through workflow automation, their ROI is limited to productivity gains for employees, rather than direct business outcomes. 

In contrast, RapidCanvas directly links software costs to business outcomes. Its AI agents autonomously handle complex tasks, reducing the need for technical talent and delivering faster, more scalable results.

This shift from indirect efficiency gains to tangible business results represents a fundamental change in how companies use software.

Harshjit Sethi, MD at Peak XV Partners, who led the Series A round, added “There is a huge gap in data science expertise across organisations. It either makes them rely on external consultants or drop these projects altogether. RapidCanvas’ innovative approach of combining AI agents with subject matter experts helps organisations fill this gap and drive results in a scalable and efficient manner. RapidCanvas has seen a strong pull from the initial base of customers who are consistently adding new use cases, demonstrating the value it is delivering”

Looking ahead, RapidCanvas is well-positioned to lead the charge in AI-powered business transformation.

In eliminating the need for extensive technical expertise, RapidCanvas is able to overcome the skills gap and help enterprise companies unlock tailored AI solutions in less time, letting those companies focus on what truly matters: bringing about new growth opportunities and driving efficient revenue and profitability gains.

This comes as no surprise, given the country’s remarkable growth in the tech industry.

Over the past decades, Nigeria has witnessed a significant rise in the number of software engineering professionals. Just two years ago, the developer talent pool grew by an impressive 45.6% between Q3 2022 and Q3 2023, reaching 872,162.

This metric positions Nigeria as the fastest-growing country for software developers in Africa and the second-fastest globally, following Bangladesh.

Building on this momentum, the surge in startups and accelerators has further fueled the growth of the Nigerian tech industry, producing a talented pool of software engineers who are pushing the boundaries of innovation and making groundbreaking contributions to the industry.

In this article, we spotlight ten exceptional Nigerian software engineers who drive innovation and growth at top companies, including Fortune 500 firms, unicorns, multinationals, etc.

These individuals are not only shaping the future of technology in Nigeria but also putting the country on the global map as an important player in the field of software engineering.

1. Olaoluwa Okelola

Olaoluwa Okelola is a respected software engineer with over 20 years of experience shaping the tech industry.

Having completed his secondary education at the International School Ibadan, Okelola proceeded to Avi-Cenna International School and Howard University, Washington DC, to complete his secondary and university education, respectively.

He then joined Microsoft as an Explorer Intern in January 2005 and left in August of the same year for Google, where he worked as an Engineering intern from May 2006 until August 2006. In 2007, he joined Facebook, becoming one of the first Nigerians to work at a global tech company.

During his tenure of over ten years, he played a pivotal role in developing some of the products we use and love today.

2. Prosper Otemuyiwa

Prosper Otemuyiwa is a full-stack software engineer and technology advocate involved in different aspects of the software ecosystem for over a decade. He is one of the biggest names in the Nigerian developer universe, not just for his skills but also for being a great tutor and speaker.

He was an early member of the Andela team and has participated in several developer conferences worldwide. Also an avid open-source contributor, Prosper built open-source packages that millions use worldwide.

Currently, he is the chief technology officer at Eden Life, and the company has raised USD 2M in venture funding. Prosper is also the co-founded forLoop Africa, the largest African developer community with members across 40 countries.

Over the years of his career, he has been invited to speak at over 100 developer events globally, and some notable ones include Zeit SF Day California, Facebook Developer Summit, Google Developer Agency Day, CMS Africa Summit, and CodeFest Conference Russia, among others.

In 2016, when Github published its ranking, Prosper was in second place on the top chart of the world’s leading PHP developers, ahead of Facebook.

This achievement gained him widespread recognition and further solidified his position as a world leader in the tech industry.

3. Adora Nwodo

Adaora Nwodo is a multi-award-winning Software Engineer and Google Associate Android Developer who works at the intersection of Cloud Engineering and Developer Platforms.

With a First Class Computer Science degree from the University of Lagos, Adora has a strong software engineering background.

She is the Founder of NexaScale, a social enterprise that fosters the growth and development of technology enthusiasts by providing resources and opportunities for project building and work experience – helping them start and scale their careers.

She has courses online that teach people about Infrastructure automation. She has also published multiple articles on software engineering, productivity & career growth on her blog, AdoraHack.

She is highly passionate about the developer community and often drives inclusion for women in technology.

She co-organizes community events for unStack Africa, contributes to open-source projects, and speaks at technology conferences worldwide. Adora is extremely passionate about the developer community and is trying to drive inclusion for women in technology.

She co-organizes community events, contributes to open source and speaks at technology conferences/meetups worldwide.

4. Favour Ohanekwu

Favour Ohanekwu is a respected open-source software engineer in the African tech community. With over 3 years + of experience, he has always been at the forefront of using open-source to build innovative solutions.

Favour gained widespread recognition when he beat 7,634 students at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), to emerge as the university’s best graduating student in 2021. He graduated with an outstanding 97.8% grade which is equivalent to a 4.89/5.00 CGPA from the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He also bagged a total of 9 awards at the university.

Today, Favour works with unicorn and global companies around the world to harness the power of technology to solve complex problems and create value-driven solutions. As a thought leader in the industry, he has been invited to mentor at various organisations. He has also been featured on Tribune and Scholarshipregion.

Currently, he works as a senior software engineer at Appsmith, an open-source low-code application platform that simplifies custom application development for businesses, allowing them to streamline operations and automate processes quickly.

5. Ire Aderinokun

Ire Aderinokun is a software engineer, entrepreneur, and investor from Lagos, Nigeria. She has worked in the technology industry for a decade.

As a respected technology leader in Africa, she has been invited to speak at over 60 conferences around the world and some of them include Google Developer Experts Summit San Francisco, WeAreDevelopers World Congress Germany, Google Women Developer Academy, and Front Conference Zurich, among others. Ire is a Google Developer Expert, specialising in core front-end technologies.

She organised Frontstack, a conference for front-end engineering in Nigeria and started a small scholarship program to sponsor Nigerian women to take a Udacity Nanodegree in a technology-related field of their choice. She is the co-founder, COO and VP of Engineering of Helicarrier, which builds cryptocurrency infrastructure for Africa.

Outside her job, she is passionate about women and education in Nigeria. Ire is one of the founding members of the Feminist Coalition, a group of young Nigerian women who promote equality for women in Nigerian society.

She is also a board member of Day Waterman College and the Stand to End Rape Initiative.

6. Chukwuemeka Afigbo

Meet Chukwuemeka Afigbo, a Visionary Technology Leader. Chukwuemeka is a highly accomplished technology leader in Nigeria’s software industry, with a proven track record of driving innovation at global tech giants. Currently, he is the Senior Director and Developer Success at Okta.

He has previously held strategic roles in big tech such as Google and Facebook.

Afigbo’s academic background includes a degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Nigeria, a Master’s in Technology Innovations Management from Carleton University, and a certificate in Advanced Project Management from Stanford University.

At Facebook, he led the Platform Partnerships team in the Middle East and Africa, collaborating with diverse developers. During his tenure at Google (2011-2015), he led the developer relations team, crafting and implementing programs that empowered Sub-Saharan African developers, fostering the region’s tech ecosystem growth through Google’s developer platforms.

Currently a Senior Director of Developer Success at Okta, Chukwuemeka keeps pushing boundaries and paving the way for innovation.

7. Tunmise Ogunniyi

Meet Tunmise Ogunniyi, a highly accomplished software engineer from Nigeria known for developing revolutionary solutions to tackle pressing world challenges.

With just 3+ years of experience, Tunmise has already significantly impacted the industry, working with unicorns like Andela and some of the world’s fastest-growing companies like Firmatek and ShipStation. Through his work, Tunmise has demonstrated exceptional expertise in designing and building cutting-edge products that cater to a global audience.

His passion for innovation and problem-solving has led to the creation of scalable, efficient, and user-friendly solutions that have transformed lives and industries.

As a rising star in the Nigerian tech industry, he inspires and empowers others through his work, paving the way for technological innovation and growth in Africa.

8. Fara Ashiru

Fara Ashiru is the Founder & CEO of Okra, an open finance infrastructure that enables developers and businesses to build personalised digital products & services.

Fara raised $1 million in a pre-seed round for Okra in just six months and before founding Okra, she was building and scaling products in emerging markets and venture-based startups by working with multiple Fortune 500 companies and startups in the USA, including JP Morgan, Sana Benefits, Fidelity Investments, BMW, and Canva.

Fara also served as a co-founder and CTO of Shixels Studios, where she led the design and development of core technology for blue-chip clients, including Airtel, AXA Mansard, RenMoney, MTech, Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, and Nestoil.

She has expertise in over 20 programming languages. She is also listed in Forbes as a tech problem-solver.

9. Segun Famisa

Meet Segun Famisa, a Senior Software Engineer based in Berlin, Germany. Segun is a seasoned Android developer and a Google Developer Expert For Andriod with a background in electronic engineering. With over six years of experience in Android development, he has honed his skills by working as a software engineer at multinational companies like Andela, Door Dash, Delivery Hero, Soundcloud and Wolt, he has worked with various partners on their Android projects.

As a passionate professional, he loves to share his expertise by speaking at tech conferences and publishing technical articles. Outside of coding, Segun enjoys playing the bass guitar and painting in his spare time.

10. Moyinoluwa Adeyemi

Moyinoluwa Adeyemi is a Nigerian Senior Android Engineer and Google Developer Expert for Android currently based in the United Kingdom.

With over nine years of experience in the software industry, Moyinoluwa has worked on several projects to solve world challenges.  Some apps she has worked on include Tour9ja, which she created in 2012.

It is an Android app that allows tourists/natives in Nigeria to learn more about the state of Nigeria. In October 2013, she developed a web application/android mobile app called ‘Efficacy’ at the National Software Competition, where she emerged as the 1st runner-up. Efficacy was designed to detect counterfeit drugs in Nigeria.

She was also part of the team that developed an educational app called “Kawe” (which means read in Yoruba language).

Kawe came in 2nd place at Google ILO. Moyinoluwa obtained a computer science and mathematics degree from Obafemi Awolowo University in Osun state, Nigeria.

After gaining experience in her early days, mentoring junior developers and planning tech events and conferences as the Admissions Manager of the Google Developers Group in OAU, she worked with Swifta Systems and Services as a software engineer.

She joined Zola Electric in April 2017 and became a senior Android developer in April 2019. In 2020, she joined Twitter (now X) as a senior software engineer and made significant achievements.

11. Babatunde Fashola

Babatunde Fashola is a seasoned software engineer and application developer with over 8 years of experience in the industry. As a staff software engineer at X (formerly Twitter), he leverages his expertise to create innovative products that millions of people use worldwide.

With a proven track record of delivering high-impact solutions, Babatunde continues to push the boundaries of technology, shaping the tech space with his exceptional skills and expertise.

12. Wisdom Matthew

Wisdom Matthew is a Backend Engineer with over three years of experience in the tech industry, specialising in solving complex challenges related to scaling business software. He has worked with leading technology companies in both Africa and the United States, contributing to innovative solutions across diverse sectors.

Currently, Wisdom is a backend engineer at NALA, an international money transfer app enabling seamless global transactions for individuals and businesses.

With a $10 million seed round in 2022, NALA is one of Africa’s fastest-growing fintech companies. Before NALA, Wisdom held roles at Citizen and MEGHEE, where he further honed his technical expertise.

He is proficient in a variety of programming languages, including Go (Golang), JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, and Python.

In the rush to deliver, one critical issue often goes unnoticed—inefficient processes silently drain productivity, much like a slow leak. The real danger? Teams don’t realize the impact until it’s too late.

Recently, I observed that many product teams prioritized speed and efficiency, but this approach sometimes had adverse effects.

Inefficiencies don’t always manifest as obvious failures like missed deadlines or budget overruns; more often, they are subtle inefficiencies in daily tasks that accumulate over time.

The year 2023 has seen these inefficient processes impede progress and lead to the loss of time, money, and valuable talent. These costs accumulate rapidly, trapping teams in a cycle of minimal results and wasted effort.

For most product teams, it’s all too easy to close one’s eyes to inefficiencies that one knows are there. Who’s got time to look back when there’s so much to do?

But the point is, every hour wasted wrestling through steps that don’t have to be taken or debugging errors that shouldn’t happen is an hour that could have been spent improving the product.

The Unseen Effect: Team Morale and Innovation

Starting this year, we acknowledge that wasteful processes are not just costly in terms of time and resources. They are also very costly in terms of team spirit and innovation.

When teams are wasting their time on redundant, low-value activities, they are unable to concentrate their time on the high-value work that actually fuels innovation.

The more time wasted on manual coordination or rework, the less time available for strategic thinking and creative problem-solving.

And let’s be honest: nobody likes to work in a chaotic environment. When the processes aren’t smooth, people get frustrated.

Over time, this leads to burnout, decreased engagement, and a general sense that “this isn’t working.”

The problem is that, when you’re in the thick of it, the damage is often invisible. It’s only when things start to fall apart that the true cost becomes apparent.

How to Locate and Fix Broken Processes

So, where are we heading in 2024? So, how do teams discover where these hidden costs are coming from, and most importantly, how do they fix them?

Step one is to step back and review your workflows. Are you stuck in continuous meetings, making requests around the clock, or holding on to approvals that should have been automated?

Is your team losing hours on tedious labour that can easily be streamlined using the proper tools?

Here’s what you can do:

1. Map Your Processes: Plot out your existing processes. Piece of cake, right? But here’s where the sorcery happens.

By having a visual representation of your processes, you’ll be able to find bottlenecks and inefficiencies that are in plain sight. Find tasks that are repetitive, prone to error, or simply bottlenecking stuff unnecessarily.

2. Automate Repetitive Tasks: Automate once the pain points have been identified. Manual deployment, testing, or data entry—whatever it may be, there are tools out there that will minimise the amount of human effort needed.

Automation is not a panacea for all, but it can give your team some extra time and lower the instances of human mistakes.

3. Adopt Cross-Functional Collaboration: One of the most compelling reasons why there are bad processes is poor team communication.

Product managers, designers, and engineers typically work in silos, and it results in delays and miscommunication. Foster teamwork with regular check-ins and feedback loops throughout each stage of the team.

4. Iterate and Improve: Don’t try to do it all at once. Process improvement is continuous. Track the effect of changes after making them and keep on improving. Create a culture of continuous improvement where anyone feels free to make process improvement suggestions.

Ultimately, poor processes are the silent killer of innovation and productivity. They cost time, money, and morale without ever showing up on the report.

But here’s the good news: they are not invincible. By taking the time to audit, automate, and streamline your processes, you can eliminate the hidden costs while quietly siphoning the potential from your team.

So as you move on, stand back and take stock. The unseen cost of a bad process could be even worse than you can imagine, but by doing it right, you can turn the tide and let your team live up to its full potential.