Nigerian Prepclass Secures Series A Funding From Rise Capital
Nigerian online tutoring marketplace, Prepclass has secured a new Series A funding round; an investment which was finalised earlier in August. The funding is backed by an American venture capital firm known as Rise Capital; a group whose only other African investment was in Iroko TV five years ago.
The precise amount raised by the startup remains undisclosed, with nevertheless an insider information divulging that all three of their publics deals so far have amounted to more than USD 1 Mn.
Prior to this moment, the USD 322 K grant from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Fund was the highest known funding into Prepclass. And, with that, it is safe to inform that the recent investment could yet be the largest raised by the startup. The fund also happens to be timely for Prepclass, as the startup is already preparing to expand, according to sources.
Meanwhile, Prepclass has secured a new apartment along Hughes Avenue, Yaba in Lagos State, and is looking to invest in offline tutoring centres. Of the many reasons for this move, the chief of them is the startup’s intent to increase its workforce by more than 60 percent in the coming days. Apart from that, Prepclass is looking to make significant changes to how it operates. By this, the team will be experimenting with the group-style tutoring.
As opposed to the peer-to-peer tutoring model, the group-style tutoring will allow the clients of the startup to work in groups. This idea is to make Prepclass able to ramp up more revenue while focusing keenly on quality learning.
Prepclass in an edtech company that offers customised learning programs for students and professionals, as well providing access to personal home tutors for parents on demand. It was founded in 2013 by Chukwuwezam Obanor and Olumide Ogunlana and is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. The startup was named one of the top most ten innovative companies in Africa in 2014 by Fast Company. In 2016, the cofounders of the startup were named in Forbes’ 30 most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa. Two startup accelerator initiatives: CCHUB Drive and XL Partners Africa selected Prepclass in 2017 – an accomplishment that bolsters the startup’s mission in the Nigerian educational sector.
This development was first reported by Techpoint Africa.
