The largest edtech fundraising round ever for a startup company, $40 million was successfully raised by Classera, a worldwide e-learning corporation focused on emerging countries. Additionally, the round represents the biggest funding round in edtech, Mena, and much of Africa.
The Public Investment Fund (“PIF”)-owned Sanabil Investments, along with Global Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, 500 Global, Sukna Venture, and Seedra Ventures, led the round. A diversified group of investors from Silicon Valley, emerging markets, and international family offices were also included in the round.
Classera will use the money to strengthen its position as a world leader in e-learning and edtech and to continue developing its Learning Super Platform (“LSP”) for the education and corporate training sectors. Additionally, the investment will be utilized to drive worldwide expansion, particularly into Asia Pacific (APAC) and abroad, through direct sales, channel partners, and acquisitions. This growth will be targeted for Mena and the rest of Africa. Through its specialized platform for corporate e-training, “LeadXera,” Classera will be able to expand into that sizable market more quickly, which is one of its main goals after this investment.
The largest edtech firm in Mena and the majority of sub-Saharan Africa is Classera, which teaches millions of students in more than 30 countries. The company’s LSP is a fully integrated ecosystem that consists of an augmented reality learning app called “C-Reality,” a full ERP for educational institutions called “C-Smarter,” an integrated e-payment gateway called “C-Pay” for pocket money, tuition payments, and financing, and a specialized educational marketplace called “Edumalls” for edtech and educational supplies products. All fall under one roof in order to streamline the procedure, increase student involvement, and so improve the learning experience as a whole.
More than ten ministries of education, private K–12 schools, colleges, and businesses that use e-learning are among Classera’s thousands of clients. With regional and international players including Microsoft, Zoom, Amazon, Intel, Udemy, and HP, it has established more than 100 strategic collaborations. The business and HP jointly introduced a co-branded solution last year under the name “HP-ClassEasy by Classera,” which is currently accessible in a number of international markets.
The CEO and co-founder of Classera, Mohammad Almadani, declared: “Today represents a turning point in the Classera journey. I am privileged to have the support of such a prestigious collection of international investors and am really proud of our staff, whose passion has always been to transform the learning process. Together, we turned Classera from a small platform with few resources into a major global EdTech player. I’m happy that we helped millions of people on their educational journeys, and I hope that our evolving tale will inspire others. We are confident that the best is yet to come. The funding will help us advance our “LSP” making it more intelligent, inspirational, and user-friendly for our clients and partners throughout the world. Many educational institutions are sure they require the newest e-learning technologies, especially in the wake of the epidemic.”
Sanabil Investments responded to the news by saying: “Classera has created and effectively implemented a platform that reaches millions of users and has risen to become one of the top global providers of e-learning solutions for emerging markets. We are devoted to giving Classera the tools it needs to reach more students from all socioeconomic levels.”
During the previous academic year, Classera had one of the highest engagement metrics in the global e-learning market. The company was able to secure up to 70% market share in numerous local markets over the journey because of the engaging gamified platform, which also generated strong engagement and over 10 billion page visits. Classera has also won other international honors in the Edtech sector along the way, including the Bett, The Learning Award, GESS, Microsoft’s Best Global Partner Award, among others.
