Edves, a Nigerian EdTech company that serves African K-12 schools by digitizing and administration, has raised $575,000 in its seed funding round led by Beta Ventures, with participation from Launch Africa Ventures, Chinook Capital, and Future Africa.
With the latest funding, Edves plans to fuel product improvement, release new offerings to address fresh consumer needs in the Nigerian market and major segments in other African markets.
Edves is an academic portal that automates operations in schools and colleges from admission to transcript generation. The platform reduces the load on teachers and administrators by allowing them to use AI algorithms to track attendance and plan classroom lessons. The company is active in almost 800 schools across Nigeria, Ghana, and Zimbabwe, and also planning further expansion.
Formed in 2016 by Dimeji Falana, Edves offers an integrated management platform for schools. It also allows clients to manage the overall operational activities of schools. The platform enables clients to manage student learning systems, student admission, fee payments, students performance, etc. Edves’s clients include American Christian Academy, Trove Schools, Hansal International School, among others.
Speaking about the fundraise, Dimeji Falana, CEO and Co-founder, Edves, said,
“The fund would fuel product improvement, the release of new offerings to address fresh consumer needs in the Nigerian market and major segments in other African markets. The team is on a milestone to hit 1,000 schools, which they are currently at 790 schools in three African markets.”
The startup has been adopted by top, medium, and small Schools in Nigeria, serving over 29,000 teachers, 96,000 parents, and 232,000 students in three African markets. Recently, the startup partnered with MTN Nigeria PLC to zero-rate data consumption for every student, parent, and teacher on the platform.
Zachariah George, Managing Partner, Launch Africa Ventures, said,
“With nearly 60% of Africa’s population of 1.4 billion being under the age of 25, digital teaching and learning is a must-have and not a nice-to-have. Schools all over the continent need easy-to-use, secure learner management software that encompasses all school needs by addressing specific challenges with capturing data, paperwork, and improving every area of school operations. With its proprietary technology, presence in 3 countries, and nearly 800 institutions already onboard in Nigeria alone, we feel very confident in the EdVes team’s ability to tackle this huge opportunity head-on.”
Edves was the most used indigenous EdTech platform for K-12 schools learning continuity and end-of-term examination in Nigeria between March and September 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and school lockdown.
In 2018, Edves had secured a $120,000 seed round from two Nigerian investors, Chinook Capital and Co-creation Hub’s (CcHb) innovation fund Growth Capital.
