Edukoya, a startup located in Lagos and London that creates online educational content and provides online tutoring for students and their parents, has acquired $3.5 million in pre-seed capital led by European VC firm Target Global. Other investors in this round include Babs Ogundeyi, co-founder of Kuda bank and his co-founder Musty Mustapha, Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade, Stash founders Brandon Krieg and Ed Robinson, and Aux Money CEO Raffael Johnen are among the angel investors in this round.

“Sometimes, even the most brilliant students can be let down by the system,” Honey Ogundeyi said. “If my parents hadn’t made the sacrifice for me to go abroad, all the successes that I’ve had in my career would have been completely different. Now, I have two kids, and seeing that same problem of going to school and struggling with some subjects made me look into getting after-school teachers. And it just struck me that this thing hasn’t changed pretty much for the last 50 years. If we look at all the innovation across different industries, Africa’s education system has remained untouched for 50 years; it’s been stagnant.”

The majority of the pre-seed money will be used to grow the firm’s team and student base, as well as develop the technology for its learning platform, including support for its pan-African and European development hubs, according to the company.

Why The Investors Invested

Honey Ogundeyi, the founder, is the rallying point for this round’s investors. Apart from being a serial entrepreneur — having previously founded Fashpa, a Nigerian fashion e-commerce business, in 2014 — she has worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company, Ericsson, Google, and the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub. Notably she has also worked as the first Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Kuda, a Nigerian neobank founded by Babs Ogundeyi. Target Global, the lead investor in this round, has invested severally in Kuda. 

In terms of traction, a statement from the company states that during the short months that the platform has been in beta with a small group of users, 96 percent of pupils utilizing the platform achieved higher grades on recent tests than students who did not use Edukoya. Despite the fact that the platform’s beta version was released this month, the product will not be live until 2022.

Read also UNESCO and SADC Co-creating a Strategic Framework for Higher Education and TVET

“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,” Lina Chong, the investment director at Target Global, said about the investment. 

A Look At What The Startup Does

Founded this year in May by CEO Honey Ogundeyi, Edukayo offers a range of features such as a 24/7 exam preparation and homework help, a question bank with step-by-step workings and personalized performance tracking systems. 

Read also Nigerian Fintech Explores Francophone Africa, Backs Ivory Coast’s CinetPay In $2.4m Seed Round

Students can use Edukayo to prepare for university entrance examinations by using materials that contain past test questions. The practice tests for both entrance exams (about 20,000) were packed inside Edukoya’s mobile app. Edukoya claims to offer step-by-step solutions to “address complex problems on prior examination papers,” as well as the ability for students to interact with qualified instructors for assistance when they get stuck.

The platform then gives data such as scores, time spent per question, and other statistics to assist students in identifying their strengths and weaknesses.

Edukayo thinks it stands out from existing and unsuccessful competitors, owing to its recent investment round, which is Nigeria’s and the continent’s largest pre-seed round. The firm claims that the investment will enable it to reach a larger audience than its predecessors, who only received small amounts of VC capital.

Read also IBS Intelligence Launches Report on Digital Wallets: The Future of Payments

Furthermore, Edukoya’s approach to learning, according to Ogundeyi, distinguishes it from its competitors and past platforms.

“This model is unique in that we are reaching parents and learners 100% online and supporting them not only across exams but also the day-to-day learning, homework, support, etc.

“Edukoya goes beyond exam prep. First, it’s an educational partner to parents and learners in primary and secondary school. We’ve seen people tackle smaller pockets in different ways, but not in a holistic way that we’re thinking about it,” she said.

Unlike other competitors, who make their platforms open to kids in grades 1–12, the company maintains that the platform is only available to students in grades 10–12, the segment taking tests into tertiary institutions, for now. It intends to open up to more subjects and other grade levels.

Edukayo Edukayo

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