AltSchool Africa, a Nigerian edtech startup positioning itself as the African counterpart to the U.S. coding bootcamp BloomTech, is gearing up for its next growth phase with the support of Intellecap, an advisory firm focused on Asia and Africa. The fully-funded program, facilitated by the Rwandan Innovation Fund, aims to strategically guide AltSchool in planning its expansion. 

In April 2023, AltSchool successfully raised $3 million, with Angaza Capital, a venture capital firm co-managing the Rwandan Innovation Fund, participating in the round, according to data from Pitchbook. This investment, previously undisclosed, was a significant milestone for AltSchool. While Adewale Yusuf, AltSchool’s CEO, acknowledged the startup’s funding from the innovation fund, specific financial details remained confidential.

Established in 2021 with a $30 million loan from the African Development Bank, the Rwandan Innovation Fund plays a pivotal role in positioning Rwanda as a technology hub in Africa. Yusuf expressed gratitude for the Rwandan government’s support in a LinkedIn post, highlighting their instrumental role in AltSchool’s success since entering the market.

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AltSchool’s presence in Rwanda has grown, with an office at the Norrsken hub and four staff members in the country. The company is actively hiring for additional roles. This move aligns with a broader trend of African companies being drawn to Rwanda, with Flutterwave and Paystack also expanding their operations in the region.

Beyond the initial $30 million AfDB loan, the Rwandan Innovation Fund aims to attract an additional $30 million from private investors, with an $8.6 million contribution from the government. The fund targets investments in 150 tech-enabled companies, ten incubators and accelerators, and 20 early-stage growth opportunities across Africa.

AltSchool distinguishes itself by offering online-only learning with a comprehensive curriculum covering business, data, engineering, media, and the creative economy. The startup adopts a unique pricing model, charging $20-$50 per month for its courses and utilizing the income-sharing agreement (ISA) common among online edtech startups like ALX. AltSchool connects learners to internships, aiming to ensure their successful entry into the job market.

Having supported approximately 20,000 learners across eight African countries, AltSchool remains committed to equipping young Africans with the knowledge and skills necessary for sustainable careers. In a region grappling with persistent youth unemployment, AltSchool and similar edtech platforms play a crucial role in addressing the skills gap and empowering young people to meet global demands.

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This recent funding round marks AltSchool’s second, following a $1 million pre-seed funding announcement in 2022, which included participation from VCs such as Voltron Capital and Obda VC, as well as notable figures like Paystack’s Sola Akinlade and Nigerian musician Folarin “Falz” Falana.

AltSchool Africa

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

AltSchool Africa, a Nigerian startup training people to become junior to mid-level engineers, has announced it has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to scale its efforts. 

“You might need a BSc if you want to be a doctor or nurse and some of these other skills. But when it comes to being a software engineer or digital skills, you really don’t,” said the CEO Adewale Yusuf

“We need to find a shortcut for people, whereby they will be able to make money and provide for their family and add value to the economy. That’s one of the reasons we launched AltSchool because if a lot of people can have marketable skills, then I think we can solve a massive problem in the market.”

Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, Flutterwave co-founder and CEO; Shola Akinlade, Paystack co-founder and CEO; Folarin Falana, a Nigerian artist known as Falzthebahdguy; and Akitoye Balogun, a Nigerian artist known as Ajebutter22 are among the investors in this round. Voltron Capital, Nestcoin, Pledges, and Odba VC also invested.

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AltSchool intends to use the funds to expand its content and curriculum, as well as its technology infrastructure and community concept, which will bring students together offline to network and learn.

Investors went after the startup because it has generated considerable traction since it was founded. More than 8,000 people have applied to join in AltSchool’s software engineering program, which begins in April (the application price is $10,000, nearly $20). These applications came from 19 nations (14 of which were African), with Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, and Botswana receiving the most entries, according to Yusuf.

A Look At What The Startup Does

Adewale Yusuf founded AltSchool alongside Akintunde Sultan and Opeyemi Awoyemi in October 2021. 

Yusuf first considered creating a physical campus in 2020, where he and his team would teach software engineers for international prospects. Yusuf attempted to pull this off by meeting with educational stakeholders at a public university in Ife, a nearby town close to agos, but the agreement fell through.

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Following that, the team concentrated on growing sister firm and Techstars-backed TalentQL, creating products like Pipeline, which trained mid-level engineers, turned them into senior engineers, and placed them in worldwide companies. However, after more research, Yusuf discovered what was required to make his previous proposal work: a remote-centric approach.

AltSchool is an online school with a curriculum that helps non-technical people develop their technical and soft skills while partnering with higher education institutions to grant diploma certifications. The business model is similar to BloomTech’s (formerly Lambda School).

Participants in the program must have a high school diploma and be computer savvy, according to the company’s website.

Students who apply to the program are given a home study package to help them prepare for an assessment test. Those who are accepted into the school and achieve an 85 percent pass rate will enroll in a software engineering course that has three tracks: frontend engineering, backend engineering, and cloud engineering. It’s a one-year program in which students complete classes for nine months (three semesters) before gaining experience through a three-month internship at a local tech company.

AltSchool uses an income-sharing agreement (ISA), which means that when students finish the program and are hired, they must pay $500 in whole or in increments of $50 over ten months or $100 over five months.
According to Yusuf, the ISA model may be phased out for the next group of students. Instead, the organization may opt for a subscription model, in which students pay $20-$50 each month for the duration of their program.

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That said, AltSchool makes provision for those who don’t get admitted into its program. They can access the platform’s first-semester content for free and practice. If they stick to the end of the three-month curriculum, AltSchool will provide avenues for them to complete the entire nine-month program.

Courses on product, blockchain, and data are in the works at AltSchool. It plans to release the product modules, which include product management, marketing, and design, by the second quarter of this year. In addition, the company is looking into B2B relationships with private schools in Nigeria and Africa that would use AltSchool’s curriculum in their classrooms.

AltSchool Africa AltSchool Africa

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