uLesson, a Nigerian EdTech startup founded by Sim Shagaya has raised a $3.1 million funding round led by TLcom Capital. Omobola Johnson and Ido Sum who are TLcom partners will now join uLesson’s board.
Shagaya founded uLesson this year and the edtech startup aims to provide adaptive and interactive tests that help students master concepts intimately.
Recommending lessons, prompting practice sessions, and working closely with students to achieve the kind of growth that transforms lives both in and out of the classroom. The service is expected to deliver learning outcomes that are positive and measurable for learners, parents, and teachers.
Shagaya who is also the founder of Konga and ad firm, E Motion-recently acquired by Loatsad Promomedia Limited, said: “We have this massive gap. We’re adding more babies in this country nominally than all of Western Europe. Even if the Nigerian government was super efficient, it couldn’t catch up with the educational needs of the young people that are coming up.”
Thanks @TLcomCapital for joining us on this journey. The @uLessonApp team appreciates your mix of maturity and spirit of adventure. We look forward to building together! https://t.co/Ae2zmeWThd
— Sim Shagaya (@SimShagaya) November 26, 2019
To bridge this gap, uLesson will use part of the investment to develop an app-based education package that students can access by either subscribing for a year (N25,375 or $70) or simply pay as you go. The product pack will have a dongle, SD card, and a set of headphones to connect to Android devices.
For the uLesson Curriculum, it will include practice tests and tailored content around math, physics, chemistry, and biology, and the startup, which has a studio in Jos, has already created 3000 animated videos for these subjects.
Although the product is still in the development phase, plans are in the pipeline to launch in February 2020 in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.
Additionally, uLesson would not be wholly app-based. There would be human interaction with subscribed students, whereby counselors will be sent to major distribution areas to direct students on how to use the app and follow lesson plans.
