Now in Beta

NLP Infrastructure for Africa's Languages

Build apps that read and write in Bantu languages. Embeddings, translation, and NLP APIs for 10+ African languages serving 250M+ speakers.

POST /v1/embed
curl -X POST https://api.bhala.ai/v1/embed \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer bh_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "input": "Sawubona, ngingakusiza kanjani?",
    "model": "bantu-embed-v1",
    "dimensions": 256
  }'
Response
{
  "object": "embedding",
  "data": [{
    "embedding": [0.0234, -0.0891, 0.1456, ...],
    "dimensions": 256
  }],
  "usage": { "total_tokens": 8 }
}
10+
Languages supported
250M+
Native speakers covered
<100ms
API latency
$0.02
Per 1M tokens

Developer Experience

Simple API, powerful results

A single API call is all you need. Get high-quality vector embeddings, translate between Bantu languages, or analyze text — all with the same familiar REST interface.

Drop-in replacement for Voyage, Cohere, or OpenAI embeddings
No NLP expertise required — our models handle the complexity
Start for free, scale to millions of requests
translate.py
from bhala import Bhala

client = Bhala(api_key="bh_sk_...")

# Translate IsiZulu to IsiXhosa
result = client.translate(
    text="Sawubona, unjani?",
    source="zu",
    target="xh"
)

print(result.translation)
# → "Molo, unjani?"

# Generate embeddings
embeddings = client.embed(
    input="Ngiyakuthanda",
    model="bantu-embed-v1"
)

print(len(embeddings.data[0].embedding))
# → 256

Use Cases

Built for the industries that need it most

From financial compliance in South Africa's 11 official languages to humanitarian communication across East Africa.

Financial Services

South Africa mandates compliance in all 11 official languages. Our APIs make multilingual banking, insurance, and fintech products possible.

Banks, insurers, fintech

Telecoms

Serve 250M+ customers in their native language. Automate support, classify messages, and deliver content in Bantu languages at scale.

Safaricom, MTN, Vodacom

Government & NGOs

Digital service delivery, document translation, and citizen engagement in local languages. Essential for education and humanitarian communication.

Government, UN agencies, education

Backed by and partnered with

Techstars
Harvard Innovation Lab
MTN
Ayoba
University of Zimbabwe

Start building with Bhala

Get free API access and start integrating Bantu language understanding into your applications today.