Sim Shagaya - Afrikan Heroes

uLesson, Nigerian Edtech Startup Raises $7.5 Million for Expansion

January 19, 2021

The Nigerian Edytech Startup founded by serial entrepreneur Sim Shagaya has closed a $7.5 million series round showing positive investor sentiments on the startup as this comes a year after it raised a seed round of $3.1m. Founded in 2019 by former Konga’s CEO Sim Shagaya, uLesson is working on bridging the educational gaps for K-7 to K-12 students across Africa by delivering affordable, high-quality and accessible education using technology. This funding round was led by US-based Owl Ventures, the largest fund focused on the world’s edtech market, with over $1.2 billion in assets under management.

Existing investors, TLcom Capital — the lead investor in uLesson’s seed round — and Founder Collective were joined by LocalGlobe; a first-time investor. Tory Patterson, the managing director of Owl Ventures, now joins the uLesson board, alongside TLcom partners, Omobola Johnson and Ido Sum who joined two years ago. Speaking on this funding round, Patterson says, “Owl Ventures is honoured to be partnering with uLesson for their Series A. The company has quickly grown into the premier platform supporting students in Africa and we are excited to support their global expansion, as they seek to empower students around the world.”

uLesson’s content was originally tailored for K-12 students in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Gambia. It now includes the IGCSE curriculum, which is relevant for these markets as well.

Having made significant progress in West Africa, uLesson is looking to expand to eastern and southern Africa. Alongside uLesson’s expansion, the startup is set to launch a host of new products including a new pan-African primary school library, 1-on-1 tutoring sessions, and Challenge – its new feature that allows learners to challenge friends to a quiz. The platform has also set its sights on launching an iOS app in the near future.

uLesson Founder/CEO Sim Shagaya says, “Africa is not one place. Different needs, cultures, and curricula mean that uLesson has to carefully and deliberately think about how to design products and distribution channels to serve such a vast market. Almost daily we receive emails from families across the continent asking us to make services available to them. And in 2021, we will.”

With this funding round, uLesson is one of the few edtech startups in Africa that has cumulatively raised eight-figure million-dollar sums. A testament to the fact that it’s making significant strides.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Nigerian Edtech Startup uLesson Secures Additional Funding On Its $3.1m Seed Round

April 22, 2020

Apparently worried that it might have been missing out on the big opportunity a Nigerian-based education technology startup uLesson is bringing to the table, US-based Venture Capital firm Founder Collective has joined uLesson’s seed round closed in 2019.

“The entire team is excited and humbled by this investment by Founder Collective and the strategic guidance and support they bring to our journey. Building a learning platform like uLesson with a library that is rich in content and scope portends huge benefits for the education system in terms of quality and relevance of content, cost-efficiency, and ease of learning,” Sim Shagaya, Founder and CEO of uLesson, said in a statement.

Here Is All You Need To Know

Although, the amount of investment remains undisclosed, VC Founder Collective is usually known for participating in investments seven-figure and above.
uLesson said the investment would allow it to expand its online learning platform to reach more learners, academic tutors, media and technology to maximize its potential as an edtech player.
In 2019, uLesson raised $3.1mn Seed Round led by TLcom Capital with participation by Sim Shagaya ahead of its market launch in Nigeria in February 2020.
uLesson could count having Shagaya as CEO as one of its advantages in the edtech space. His best known venture, Konga, went head to head with online retailer Jumia in pioneering e-commerce for Nigeria and Africa. Konga was sold in a distressed acquisition in 2018.
In both Nigeria and Kenya uLesson will face competition from existing ventures. Edtech in Africa doesn’t have as many companies (or as much VC funding) as leading startup sectors fintech and e-commerce, but there are a number of players.

Why The Investor Invested

Founded in 2009, Founder Collective is a Massachusetts-based seed-stage venture capital fund that helps entrepreneurs build their businesses.

“We only invest at the seed stage and don’t (do) follow-on which means when it comes time to raise the next round we are fully-aligned with the founding team. We provided the initial capital that enabled Dia&Co to expand beyond their first Bushwick warehouse — then sales exploded.

When it came time to raise more money, We could provide Nadia and Lydia with objective advice and act as a sounding board,” the VC noted on its website.

In 2014, the VC participated in Andela’s seed funding round of undisclosed amount, alongside other investors such as Steve Case, Omidyar Network, Founder Collective, Rothenberg Ventures, Learn Capital, Melo7 Tech Partners, and Chris Hughes.

A Look At What Startup uLesson Does

Founded in 2019 by Shagaya — who also founded Nigerian e-commerce startup Konga and ad venture E-Motion — uLesson is headquartered in Lagos with a production studio in Jos.
uLesson attempts to place priority on education across West African households vs. structural deficiencies — such as student teacher ratios as high as 1:70 in countries such as Nigeria.
uLesson offers an app-based home education kit for students with an up-front yearly subscription price of around $70 and the option to pay as you go. The startup’s product pack will contain a dongle, SD card, and a set of headphones to connect to Android devices.
Curriculum on the uLesson program will include practice tests and tailored content around math, physics, chemistry, and biology. The venture has already created 3000 animated videos for core subjects, according to Shagaya.
To leverage high android mobile penetration in Africa — and minimize data-streaming costs — uLesson content and performance assessment will come via a combination of streaming and SD cards.
Parents and students can connect online temporarily to update the app and sync curriculum and results, while operating off-line for the bulk of lessons.
Shagaya likened the use of SD cards to the old Netflix model of sending and returning DVD’s by mail, prior to faster and more affordable internet service in the U.S.
The uLesson program will also package a human component. The startup plans to deploy a network of counselors in major distribution areas to instruct on how to use app and follow lesson plans.
uLesson is to be a supplement to secondary school education and a more affordable and effective alternative to private tutors, explained Shagaya.
After taking uLesson to market in Africa’s most populous nation — Nigeria — and other countries in the region, Shagaya and team plan to adapt the product for a future East Africa launch.

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