Watobe, a South African edtech startup, has secured a $636,000 strategic investment from United Kingdom educational publisher Twinkl.
With this investment, the edtech startup Joins Twinkl business accelerator, TwinklHive, which partners and supports entrepreneurs and businesses that have a shared mission to help educators and transform learning experiences. The £450k investment values the company at £4.45m.
Watobe is a digital education platform that aims to help tackle the challenges faced by pupils and education systems across Africa by working with parents and learners to help them grasp concepts, fill any gaps and excel in their studies.
The company’s platform provides curriculum-aligned video lessons for mathematics, coupled with adaptive quizzing and remote one-to-one mentor support.
Founders Henry Warren, former director of innovation at publishing company Pearson, and Erik Lönnroth, also ex Pearson and a former consultant at PwC, created Watobe in 2019.
Henry Warren, chair and founder of Watobe, said: “We are unbelievably excited to be working with Twinkl, one of the world’s leading educational companies to ensure that high-quality education can become available to all children in Africa.”
David Angrave, chief operating officer at Twinkl, added: “Africa is a large market where needs are currently underserved. Twinkl’s mission and passion for education align perfectly with Watobe, we’re delighted to be embarking on this partnership.”
Watobe currently operates in South Africa with plans to expand into other countries in Africa imminently.
