HyperionDev, a South African edtech firm, has announced that it has raised over $3.54 million in 12 weeks in a Series A fundraiser. The crowdfunding strategy attracted over 1,500 investors from more than 20 countries.
The edtech startup floated its public crowdfunding appeal on the crowd investment platform CrowdCube and surpassed its goal of raising $1 million.
Founder and CEO of HyperionDev, Riaz Moola, said: “This incredible milestone will directly benefit thousands of students across the globe who are looking for an accessible and affordable way to learn job-ready, practical developer skills in months rather than years. In the past 12 weeks, we’ve welcomed over 1,500 new stakeholders.
“We believe that our coding bootcamps are the best way to close the growing global tech skills gap, and with this wave of support we are one step closer to fulfilling our mission in the US and UK markets.”
The HyperionDev Series A milestone will mark the next stage of its planned expansion into UK and US markets on the back of the company’s success in Africa, including 640% revenue growth since 2018, a 254% growth in active users during the lockdown, and more than 100,000 student registrations.
HyperionDev said the fundraising success will also directly enable over $246,000 in full coding bootcamp scholarships for deserving students. In addition, the campaign included investor scholarships and investor awards to the value of $970,000, with new stakeholders donating free bootcamps and discounted courses to students in need.
Moola continues: “This has been our biggest campaign to date. The reaped rewards will allow us to give back over $246,000 full coding bootcamp scholarships for students in need. What’s been particularly great is our investors’ generosity and belief in our vision for accessible education.
“These investors were promised a reward of a free or heavily discounted bootcamp with their investment; many of them have chosen to donate their bootcamp reward to students. It’s been amazing to watch so many people get on board with this social impact investment and make real change to the lives of South African youth.”
