Barely a few months into its founding, Nigerian startup uLesson, founded by serial entrepreneur and founder of Konga Sim Shagaya has raised a $3.1 million seed round led by TLcom Capital. uLesson is integrating mobile platforms, SD cards, culture-specific curriculum and a network of tutors to bridge educational gaps for secondary school students in Nigeria and broader Africa.
‘‘We have this massive gap…We’re adding more babies in this country nominally than all of Western Europe…Even if the [Nigerian] government was super efficient, it couldn’t catch up with the educational needs of the young people that are coming up,” Shagaya said.
This round of financing which was led by TLcom Capital also saw, as part of TLcom’s lead on the investment, partners Omobola Johnson and Ido Sum joining uLesson’s board. uLesson which has been in development phase, also plans to go to market in February 2020 in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Gambia.
On why the new investments by TLcom were made, partner Ido Sum disclosed in an interview that TLcom was guided by three key questions:
- “Is this a good market?”
- “Is this the right company?” and;
- “Is this a good investment.”
“TLcom’s general investment thesis for Africa is that given the high penetration of mobile, there are very large markets where demand is already proven and technology can play a true role in offering a superior value proposition over existing solutions,” Sum said.
“While education ranks high on both criteria, we struggled to find compelling solutions and teams that combine an ambitious vision, a deep understanding of the pain points and what people are willing to pay for, and a proven execution capacity.”
In uLesson, Sum said TLcom had found a company that ticks all the boxes.
“Having known Sim for years, and his commitment to win when he picks a challenge, it was clear that in uLesson he found a true passion,” said Sum.
“The team spent a year refining “go to market” strategies to beat African challenges such as high cost of data, streaming instability, and issues with monthly payments. In parallel, they started building a world class content library, based out of Jos, Nigeria’s historical media capital, with lots of high quality talent.”
Despite being at a very early stage, uLesson has already thought through many fundamental questions, from a distinct content distribution strategy, to how to attract early users by building trust but also securing the collection of payments from day one.
“Of course we face early-stage risks, but we are excited to partner with the uLesson team with open minds and open eyes, ready to tackle and overcome the challenges ahead,” Sum said.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world