Watobe, a South African education technology startup that supports maths learners, has raised $636,000 in its seed funding round from educational publisher Twinkl, the company has announced recently.
With this investment, the Cape Town-based EdTech startup has joined Twinkl business accelerator, TwinklHive, which partners and supports entrepreneurs and businesses that have a shared mission to help educators and transform learning experiences.
Watobe was founded by Henry Warren, former director of innovation at publishing company Pearson, and Erik Lönnroth, also ex-Pearson and a former consultant at PwC, in 2019. It provides a digital learning platform that aims to help tackle the challenges faced by pupils and education systems across Africa by working with parents and learners to help them grasp concepts, fill any gaps, and excel in their studies.
The platform offers online mathematics lessons for African learners, from grades 7 to 12, in the form of both streaming and on-demand content comprising videos, exercises, quizzes, and also provides one-to-one mentor support that they need to succeed in life.
Expressing his excitement on the development, Henry Warren, Chair and Co-founder of Watobe, said,
“We are unbelievably excited to be working with Twinkl, one of the world’s leading educational companies, to ensure that high-quality education can become available to all children in Africa.”
David Angrave, Chief Operating Officer at Twinkl, commented on the investment,
“Africa is a large market where needs are currently underserved. Twinkl’s mission and passion for education align perfectly with Watobe, we’re delighted to be embarking on this partnership.”
Watobe is currently operating in South Africa but plans to expand its operations into other countries in Africa.
According to Crunchbase, Watobe has raised a total of $1.1 million to date. The company had raised $500,000 in its Pre-seed funding round in April 2020.
