Paystack and Kuda founders, others Raise $3.5 million Pre-seed for Edutech Startup, Edukoya

Shola Akinlade, co-founder/CEO of Paystack, Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha, co-founders of Kuda, Brandon Krieg and Ed Robinson, co-founders of Stash, and Raffael Johnen, CEO of Aux Money, among others, have raised $3.5 million for edutech startup, Edukoya.

The startup Edukoya aims to empower learners and their parents to take control of their learning by making it easier for them to access high-quality learning material and expert help.

Founded in May but went into beta in December this year by former Google Nigeria boss Honey Ogundeyi, Edukoya is an African-focused online learning platform that has raised $3.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Target Global.

Target Global, a German investment business with over €1.5 billion in financial commitments and co-investments worldwide, is seen as making additional inroads into the African technology startup ecosystem with its support of Edukoya.

The investment is also the first for Nigerian fintech startups, Paystack and Kuda t0 participate in.

Paystack allows businesses to take payments via credit card, debit card, money transfer, and mobile money. The startup has total funding of $10.4 million.

Kuda, a regulated digital bank that provides Africans with free full-service banking, has total funding of $91.5 million. 

The two fintech startups, among others, have raised $3.5 million for Edukoya to go from beta to live launch in Nigeria by 2022. It will also extend its online curriculum content coverage and on-demand tutoring option for secondary school students and expedite its product and technology.

The funding makes this pre-seed round the largest investment in African edtech history and the largest investment raised by a single Nigerian female creator.

“Our vision at Edukoya is to redefine online education for the next generation of Africans. Africa has the fastest-growing school-age population globally, with over 260 million students and counting”, Ogundeyi said.

“Our goal is to democratise access and make high-quality instruction and content accessible and affordable to every student, regardless of where he or she lives on the continent.”

Target Global’s Investment Director, Lina Chong, said they are delighted to lead this investment and partner with Ogundeyi and her remarkable team of education technology pioneers. 

“Edukoya’s mission to provide better quality to millions of African students, combined with the team’s ability to execute on this ambition, left an immediate impression on myself and the whole team at Target Global. Their business has the potential to unlock learner potential and improve lives across generations,” Chong said.

The platform is specifically designed for Nigerian secondary school students. That is its current pitch. Edukoya offers test preparation and homework tutoring 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as well as a data-driven question bank with step-by-step solutions and individualised performance tracking.  

Nigeria’s public education is poor; too many variables are working against it, from little financing to inept teachers to bad government policies. As a result, only a small percentage of Nigerians have access to high-quality education. 

The seven-month-old startup claims to provide a free supplementary learning platform and subscription packages with premium features geared toward K-12 education and exam preparation. This offering combination should help to equal out the distribution of high-quality education. The platform is entirely online, allowing learners to save time and money by learning at their speed.

This year, the African edtech market got off to a poor start in terms of investment, but it’s slowly gaining up. Even while it’s a big market to serve, competition is heating up thanks to platforms like uLesson, which just received a $15 million investment to expand into the same market Edukoya is targeting. 

Regardless of who debuts first, it’s still too early to tell who will emerge as the industry leader.

READ MORE: African Edtech Startup uLesson Secures $7.5mn Series A Funding