Nigerian Edtech Startup, Edves Raises $575k Led by Beta Ventures

Edves, a Nigerian edtech startup, has announced that it has raised $575,000 funding. Investors in the round include Beta Ventures along with Launch Africa, Chinook Capital (returning) and Future Africa.

The new investment will be used to improve products and onboard more schools online by digitizing learning and administration to ensure multi-curricular lesson delivery online and offline.

Founded in 2016 by Dimeji Falana (CEO)and Dare Adedayo (COO), Edves enables collaboration between teachers, parents and administrators to deliver education, and collaborate on learners’ progress on learning goals, tracking and analyzing learning outcomes. Since its launch, over 790 schools have used the software to automate operations in Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe.

Commenting, the founders said that 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.

Beta Ventures (BV) General Partner, Ovo Emorhokpor said: “Beta Ventures has a clear mandate to support exceptional African startups and entrepreneurs bringing actual value to Nigeria and other African communities. We have witnessed Edves firsthand and seen how they deliver on their promise to digitise the learning process in and out of the classroom in Africa.

“We are thrilled to be part of their journey as they scale their offerings and expand into new markets. Beta Ventures is an early-stage investor, focused on partnering with high-potential technology entrepreneurs that are building significant companies for the African market.”

Zachariah George, Managing Partner at Launch Africa Ventures said, “With nearly 60 per cent 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.”

Suru Avoseh, General Partner Chinook Capital shared the rationale for the decision to back Edves for the second time. “At the height of the unexpected COVID-related lockdown, the demand for Edtech products scaled globally (further market validation), however many schools were caught unaware and paid an expensive price to work around the situation. What Edves has done is to introduce innovative technology that makes this transition to digital education seamless at a cost-effective rate.

“That’s why we invested in Edves and the team. The adoption and demand for their products have been impressive with a reach of over 780 schools in Nigeria with 350,000+ connected players (educators, parents and students).

“To realize its ambitions to play at a bigger scale, a regional expansion is necessary and our aim is to continue to support Edves’ efforts to achieve the long-term goal: To become the operating system for k-12 schools in emerging markets.”

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Managing Partner, Future Africa noted -“Dimeji and Dare are tenacious technology entrepreneurs in the education space. We’re particularly excited about their execution and growth over the years, especially supporting parents and schools during COVID. A lot of opportunities exist with education in Africa.

“The particular problem that Edves solves is critical to education management. It frees up teachers’ time to focus on more important tasks and helps parents stay abreast of their child’s educational progress. We’re excited to partner with them to build the future of learning in Africa.”