Nigerian ed-tech startup Afrilearn has emerged as the only Nigerian startup to join the latest cohort of the UNICEF Venture Fund.
Afrilearn and eight other startups worldwide developing digital solutions to improve access to digital services will receive equity-free investments in USD and/or cryptocurrency through the UNICEF Venture Fund and UNICEF CryptoFund and a year-long mentorship with UNICEF’s technical and programme experts and partners.
Nigeria currently has over 200 million population base. Of this number, 80 million (40%) can’t read or write. 120 million (60%) can’t engage beyond religion and metaphysics. 170 million (85%) can’t build or create anything meaningful.
Founded by Isaac Oladipupo and Gabriel Olatunji-Legend in 2019 to solve this problem, Afrilearn integrates genius tutors, animators, and developers to provide affordable, world-class education for young Nigerians and Africans anywhere. The Chief Growth Officer, ‘Lamide Johnson, while commenting on this said “our work at AfriLearn remains pivotal to innovation in the educational sector in Africa. We are happy to be recognised by UNICEF, and we remain committed to empowering high school students to access global learning that gives them a advantage in their respective careers”.
Widely described as the Netflix of Education for young Africans, Afrilearn offers richly animated and curriculum-relevant video lessons, class notes, practice tests, live classes, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower high/secondary school students (Ages 6-18) to study at their unique pace in and outside the classroom via Web, App, and data-free Dongle subscription services.
With this timely investment and backing from UNICEF, Afrilearn is expected to develop a world-class artificial intelligence-powered personalized recommendation model to make learning fun and immersive for young Africans, across its mobile app and web platforms.
According to UNICEF, five of nine startups in this round of investments are female-founded/co-founded, bringing the Fund’s overall female-led/founded portfolio composition to 43%. The cohort also expands the Fund’s geographic reach to Indonesia and the UAE.
Launched in 2016, The UNICEF Innovation Fund has made investments in 126 frontier technology solutions, in 68 countries, that have the potential to create a positive change for humanity.
It is also part of the success story of various successful African and global tech innovations like Imisi 3D, MomConnect, Innovation Lab China, Yuudee App and many more.
