Andela receives US$24-million investment from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

During a round of Series B funding, coding startup programme Andela, received US$24-million (+R360-million) from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI).

The funding was announced on the Andela website and Facebook on 16 June.

“This marks the first time that Mark and Priscilla have led a round and we’re thrilled to welcome them, as well as GV (formerly Google Ventures), to the Andela family,” writes co-founder and CEO of Andela, Jeremy Johnson, in the announcement.

Andela launched two years ago and trains software developers in Africa. Those trained during the six-month programme are then placed in positions with Fortune 500 companies and international startups.

“Today, Andela developers are building products for Google, Facebook and IBM, as well as dozens of fast growing venture-backed startups,” says Johnson.

Since starting, Andela has expanded into three continents with over 300 staff members, with applicants for the startup increasing from 15 000 to 40 000.

Andela has expanded from its initial offices in Nigeria to Kenya as well as San Francisco, US, as well.

“I was lucky to be born in a wealthy country where I had access to computers and the internet. If I had been born somewhere else, I’m not sure I would have been able to start Facebook — or at least it would have taken a lot longer and been more difficult,” writes the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, in a post about the investment.

“The gap between talent and opportunity is among the greatest in Africa. Six out of every ten Africans are under the age of 35 — and in some places, more than half of them are out of work,” continues Zuckerberg.