HyperionDev, a Cape Town-based online code course developer, has secured more than £1.8 million ($2m) through its equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube. At the same time, the company has announced an impact investment opportunity that allows everyone to become a part of the company’s growing tech education business while also offering coding scholarships worth up to 3.5 million rand (US$ 235,720) to deserving South Africans.
“We believe that ed-tech is going to dominate education in the coming years. There isn’t a better time to make an investment in both your future, and the future of hundreds of deserving people as we enter our next phase of explosive growth in the UK and international markets,” said Riaz Moola, Founder and CEO, HyperionDev.
Here Is What You Need To Know
- Via the crowdfunding, which ended at the end of February, the company offered 9.73 percent of its total equity at a £16.8 million pre-money valuation.
- The latest round of crowdfunding attracted the attention of South African celebrity Black Coffee and his investment firm, Flightmode Digital.
- HyperionDev has already obtained over US$400,000 in funding from some of the world’s most well-known technology firms, such as Facebook and Google.
- The Crowdcube funds will be used to continue the HyperionDev platform’s growth and development.
- HyperionDev’s expansion into the UK and US markets will also be aided by the investment. The planned expansion follows the company’s success in Africa.
- Investors have increasingly shown interests in South African edtech startups. Last year, Naspers Foundry announced investment of R45 million ($2.9 million) into ‘The Student Hub’, an online learning platform, which helps TVET colleges to overcome physical infrastructure constraints and improves students’ access to vocational education and training.
Read also: South Africa’s The Student Hub Raises $2.9m From Naspers Foundry
Invitation To The Public To Subscribe To HyperionDev’s Ongoing Coding Scholarship Scheme Fundraise
Members of the public are also encouraged to donate to HyperionDev’s ongoing coding scholarship fundraise. The impact investment opportunity demonstrates HyperionDev’s dedication to delivering positive social impact by addressing a pressing need in South Africa for tech education and skills growth.
Through the company’s US$235,720 bursary scheme, investors can make a difference in the lives of hundreds of deserving South Africans by buying equity shares in HyperionDev for as little as R200/£10.
A Look At What The Startup Does
HyperionDev was founded in 2012 by Riaz Moola while he was still a first year Computer Science student. The startup has the aim of closing the growing global tech skills gap through affordable tech education. Since then, thousands of students have learned job-ready developer skills and pursued careers in tech. Individuals can take online courses using personal computers or mobile phone devices, even if they do not have access to a broadband network, in HyperionDev’s coding bootcamps.
“HyperionDev began as a community of Computer Science university students in Africa and the UK trying to equalise tech education. Our core innovation was simple: efficiently connect top students to struggling ones, having them review code on structured courses. This got financial backing from Facebook and Google in 2016/17, helping us deliver mentor-led tech education globally and perfect our proprietary technology for scaling online mentoring — what we call computer-assisted code review,” the startup noted in a statement.
The statement also noted that HyperionDev is well positioned for a wave of rapid growth, following the online edtech boom that arose in the aftermath of global lockdowns and social distancing: the business has grown by 640 percent in revenue since 2018, while lockdown has seen a 254 percent increase in active users, surpassing 100,000 student registrations.
“I strongly believe that accessible tech education is the future of social upliftment and mobility for thousands of people across the globe. In South Africa, there are too many people who do not have the skills nor opportunity to find well-paying, decent jobs,” said Moola.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer