Nigerian education technology startup uLesson has recently raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Nielsen Ventures and Tencent.
The round also saw participation from existing investors Owl Ventures, TLcom Capital, and Founder Collective.
With the fresh capital, the startup plans to continue to invest in product development, strengthen its core, and expand its science and mathematics content to include social sciences and financial accounting to the secondary level content library and qualitative and quantitative reasoning to the primary level.
Founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur Sim Shagaya, uLesson offers a suite of educational products, a core curriculum video library, live lessons, and live personalized homework help, that provides holistic learning that is both interactive and tailored to the individual needs of primary and secondary school learners across Africa.
uLesson is on a mission to provide high-quality, affordable, and accessible education to all Africans. The company aims to create a platform to revolutionize the way students learn and study for their exams in preparation for higher education and what comes after. It encourages them to embrace the learning evolution that comes with the current digital age.
Commenting on the fundraise, Sim Shagaya, Founder and CEO of uLesson, said,
“We’re thrilled to achieve this major milestone which will take us further in bringing high quality and affordable education to all Africans. We’re delighted to be joined by seasoned investors, like Tencent, who brings a wealth of experience from their investments in education technology. Backed by incredible partners, we can accelerate our learning to serve the African EdTech market more effectively.”
Since its launch, uLesson has seen incredible traction from learners. In 2021, daily average users surged 430%, and live lesson demand grew by 222% since their introduction in September. The uLesson app has been downloaded two million times; 12.3 million videos have been watched, and 25.6 million questions have been answered.
With uLesson, learners have mastered the core curriculum, improved their test scores, and renewed their confidence in learning. Some uLesson learners have moved from the 50th percentile to the 90th percentile in their class – one whole standard deviation. uLesson is available in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, the US, and the UK.
David Frankel, Managing Partner of Founder Collective, said in a statement,
“The incredible talent on the continent has been held back for too long by a lack of opportunities. So I couldn’t be a more enthusiastic supporter of Sim Shagaya and his vision for more accessible and affordable educational opportunities for millions of people.”
uLesson believes learning should be a personally fulfilling and exciting journey for every student. The company employs an individualistic approach to learning, applying simplified teaching methods designed to amplify each student’s learning ability with quality lesson plans from the best tutors. The platform takes the complex concepts of math, physics, chemistry, and biology and presents them to the learner in a manner that makes learning interactive and engaging.
Earlier this year, uLesson had raised $7.5 million in a Series A round led by Owl Ventures, with the participation from existing investors, TLcom Capital, Founder Collective, and new investor LocalGlobe.
