Target Global leads other VCs in $3.5m pre-seed funding in Nigeria’s Edtech, Edukayo

Funding now largest re-seed round for an African Edtech platform

AFTER DRUMMING IN VESTMENT SUPPORT IN KUDA, NIGERIA’S NEOBANK, TARGET GLOBAL, a European venture capital firm, is continuing its investment in tech startups across the globe, including Nigeria, as it expands its footprint in Africa to increase its portfolio of companies it has backed as a leading angel investor, and has pumped millions of dollars into African startup, Edukayo.

The investment company has now entered into a strategic partnership with European and African founders, such as Shola Akinlade, chief executive officer and cofounder of Paystack (acquired by Stripe), Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha, founders of Kuda, Brandon Krieg and Ed Robinson, the founders of Fintech Stash and Raffael Johnen, chief executive officer of Aux Money, among others.

Target Global is an international investment firm headquartered in Berlin, with over €1.5 billion in capital commitments and co-investments in startups globally. The investment company is helping exceptional entrepreneurs such as Honey Ogundeyi, founder and chief executive officer of Edukayo, to build market leaders by building on its experienced team with substantial operational and investment experience.

Interestingly, the European venture capital firm’s other portfolio includes companies such as Nigeria’s neobank, Kuda, Auto1, Cazoo, Delivery Hero, Rapyd, TravelPerk, WeFox, and Zego.

In December 2021, Edukoya, an Africa-focused online learning platform, which currently operates in the beta version of its app, the second most downloaded educational app in Nigeria at launch, announced that it raised $3.5 million in the largest pre-seed round for an African EdTech platform till date, and that this was led by Target Global with strategic participation from angel investors. The founder said the funds will enable the transition from beta to live launch in 2022 and also expand the team.

Over the years, physical or offline test preparatory schools in Nigeria have engaged themselves with the provision of after-school guidance and tutoring for students who seek to pass entrance and certificate examinations. To this development, several educational technology applications and platforms such as Google Classroom, Class Dojo, U-Learning have emerged, but they appear to have been developed without a major focus on Nigeria.

Edukoya’s learning platform, which includes support for its pan African and European developer hubs, empowers learners and their parents to take control of their learning and makes it easier for them to access high-quality learning material and expert help. The platform has a range of valuable features targeted at Nigerian secondary school learners, including 24/7 Exam Preparation & Homework tutor help, a data-driven question bank with step by step solutions and personalised performance tracking systems.

Reinventing how African students learn in the age of mobile devices, Edukoya combines a dataenabled question bank, world-class teachers, innovative technology and data science to deliver personalised learning across grades by democratising access to high-quality education and igniting a passion for lifelong learning. Its mission is to build the world’s largest online learning platform for Africans by making high-quality learning materials and support more accessible and affordable.

Founded in May 2021, the Lagos and London based startup is free for now and the founder hopes to explore a freemium model where premium products are used to upsell students or parents.

Also, Edukoya operating model is different as it is available to students in grades 10-12, the segment taking exams into tertiary institutions, unlike most edtechs that play in the same space and offer their platforms for grades 1 to12. However, the learning experience is delivered through a 100 percent online model, which promotes self-learning and allows learners to save time, save money and get smarter.

For Ogundeyi, the founder and chief executive of Edukoya, this pan African platform is not her first spell in a startup since her foray into entrepreneurship. In 2014, she founded Fashpa, a Nigerian fashion e-commerce store. Her professional career spans consulting and managerial roles at McKinsey & Company, Ericsson, Google and UK-Nigeria Tech Hub. Adding more feathers to her cap, she was the chief market officer of Kuda, which was founded by Babs Ogundeyi.

Per the new funding, Honey Ogundeyi said: “Our vision at Edukoya is to redefine online education for the next generation of Africans. Africa has the fastest-growing school-age population globally, with over 260 million students and counting. Our goal is to democratize access and make high-quality instruction and content accessible and affordable to every student, regardless of where he or she lives on the continent.”

Speaking of her journey so far as a founder, she said, “I’ve been in this space for a long time and I’m particularly passionate about female founders and expanding the scope of what we can do. I don’t make that segmentation so much. Given the right opportunity and the right experience, female founders can build big valuable businesses. This is just day one for us as part of that journey.”

Also, Lina Chong, investment director at Target Global, said, “We are delighted to lead this investment and partner with Honey and her impressive team of education technology pioneers. 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.”

Meanwhile, Target Global’s partners have been investing for more than 15 years in the digital technology space, backing some of the key European success stories across the globe.