With its flexible educational curriculum, Nigerian ed-tech startup AltSchool Africa has raised a US$1 million pre-seed fundraising round to address the persisting problem of talent shortage in the tech environment.
AltSchool Africa has received over 8,000 applications from 20 different nations in the four months since its introduction, with the first cohort set to begin in April 2022.
It has already raised a US$1 million pre-seed round from institutional investors including Voltron Capital, NestCoin, Odba VC, and Pledges to assist its expansion.
Olugbenga Agboola of Flutterwave, Shola Akinlade of Paystack, Dr. Ola Brown, and entertainment stars Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana and Akitoye Balogun, popularly known as ‘Ajebutter22’ also took part in the funding round.
AltSchool, which was founded last year by Adewale Yusuf and Sultan Akintade, who are also co-founders of another Nigerian ed-tech firm, TalentQL, promises to provide Africans with in-demand digital and employability skills to help them launch their careers.
“We realized that there was a lot of demand and relatively little supply after TalentQL launched.” Even with the supply, there was a significant gap in employability. Although individuals possessed excellent technical abilities, they lacked the crucial foundational skills to succeed. AltSchool Africa was founded to meet these needs, according to Akintunde.
This fund will go toward expanding the startup’s team and upgrading its infrastructure. AltSchool Africa has plans to expand on its current programs in order to fulfill the demand from millions of Africans who will require computer skills training or retraining.
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