Teesas, a startup founded less than two months ago and which offers video classes and other digital educational material for learners in Nigeria, has raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed fundraising round. Haresh Aswani, Tolaram Group’s Africa managing director, led the Teesas round, which included Olivegreen Advisory Partners, an Africa-focused venture studio, as well as other angel investors.
The startup intends to use the funds to expand into new regions, develop a marketplace that connects students with teachers for private courses, and broaden its product offering.
Why The Investors Invested
Despite new to the market, Teesas has generated considerable traction.
“We started beta testing around August this year, and fully launched the android version in November,” founder and CEO Osayi Izedonmwen said. “Already Teesas has over 150,000 downloads at the Google Play store, where we are now growing by at least 20% every week.”
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Izedonmwen’s wider network is also at play here. Izedonmwen, a professional engineer, worked with ExxonMobil for 15 years before founding Imose, rising through the ranks to become the company’s operations manager in Nigeria. He’s also a serial entrepreneur, having worked at his prior company, Imose Technologies, for seven years producing electronic gadgets before launching Teesas.
“We believe in the mission Izedonmwen and the Teesas team has set forth on, and we are confident that they are best suited to crack the challenge of using technology to enhance access to quality education across Africa,” said Aswani, an investor in this round.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Teesas’ content is available to learners in both live and recorded formats, with a monthly subscription starting at $6. The startup also offers local language classes in addition to traditional schoolwork.
“Live classes deal with concepts where learners have challenges. The learners sit with teachers in small remote classes of 10 or 15 for a personalized engagement, and to get more rigor into the teaching process,” said Izedonmwen.
Teesas will offer full-curriculum modules for learners aged 12 and up in the near future.
“We foresee a future where kids don’t have to attend in-person classes because they can cover entire curriculums on an app, and be ready enough for their secondary school entrance exams,” he said.
Teesas is also planning to launch life-skills classes in the first half of next year to help students prepare for self-discovery. This is on top of anti-bullying training, which were prompted by reports of an uptick in bullying in Nigeria, with some incidences resulting in death.
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