UK-based education technology startup Teacherly has secured a seed funding of $1.5 million from Abu Dhabi-based Shorooq Partners (formerly Shorooq Investments).
Founded in 2016 by Atif Mahmood, Teacherly is a collaborative lesson planning and peer-to-peer coaching platform tailored to the needs of teachers. The platform enables teachers to plan lessons, communicate and collaborate digitally and claims that it helps them save 67 percent of their time while planning lessons and managing communications. The startup claims to serve more than 70,000 monthly active users.
Teacherly platform can be used by any educator or learning provider and comes with instant access to thousands of exemplar lesson templates. The content, it currently offers, includes the English, American and UAE curriculum covering International Baccalaureate. Teachers have the options to select other subjects, create their own content, and even incorporate other personal development or workplace skills into the curriculum. They also can collaborate with other teachers by creating their own team and share lessons, templates and resources and reduce time spent planning while improving productivity.
Commenting on the edtech ecosystem in the Middle East and the company’s association with Shorooq Partners, Teacherly founder and CEO Atif Mahmood said,
“Despite the recent growth in edtech, the teaching population in the Middle East is still heavily overlooked and underserved by the latest technology. We are confident that with Shorooq’s expertise and support we can create value and solve important problems for the education space here.”
Meanwhile, Teacherly plans to use the investment to expand its team and execute its expansion plans in the Middle East and North Africa.
Speaking about the use of technology in education, its excitement on being part of Teacherly’s journey in edtech space, Shane Shin, founding partner at Shorooq Partners, said,
“Education is still one of the more conventional spaces underserved by the latest technology, and we are delighted to enter the space through a truly disruptive venture. We are excited to join the journey of Teacherly at such an early stage and are committed to building it together, supporting it to grow its strong presence in the Middle East and further penetrate the European market. We believe that Teacherly solves a unique problem that few businesses have identified, let alone solve effectively, and is poised for exponential growth.”
After establishing itself in the United Kingdom with offices in Manchester, Derby and London, Teacherly expanded to the Middle East with its launch in UAE last year. The company reportedly said that it has plans to expand to Saudi Arabia, and then North Africa within the next two years. Hope the latest investment will enable the company to fulfil its expansion plans.
