Kenyan edtech Kidato secures $1.4-million

Nairobi-based edtech startup Kidato has secured $1.4-million in a seed funding round from Learn Start Capital, Launch Africa Ventures Fund, Graph ventures, Century Oak Capital, and an Ivy League university endowment fund along with participation from notable local and global angel investors.

Kenyan edtech Kidato secures $1.4-million in seed funding

In an official press statement, Kidato shares that a number of additional investors contributed to the latest round of funding secured and highlights how the funding will be used.

“We are also very honoured to have some of our students’ parents join as investors as well. Their faith and belief in our mission are truly humbling. Kidato current seed financing will be ploughed into growth and product development, we are looking to work with the best tutors and academias to help shape the future of education in Africa.”

Kidato

Launched in 2020, Kidato is an edtech startup that offers live online academic and after-school classes for children aged four to 18.

Kidato explains that it drew inspiration from popular platforms used by young learners to create an engaging and innovative e-learning experience. 

“Kidato is built around the idea that learning is a lifetime experience, therefore it should not be boring but fun and rewarding, just like watching youtube videos, or playing MineCraft and Roblox. Drawing from our understanding about how these platforms work and how kids learn from them, we have built-in behaviour reward mechanisms such as lesson merits into our teaching methods resulting in interesting and enjoyable virtual classes.”

The edtech startup has created a unique solution and edtech product offering that addresses several problems that are currently plaguing Africa’s education system. According to Kidato, the main problems faced in the education system are overcrowded public schools, expensive tuition fees at private schools, long commute times for students, poorly motivated tutors among a few others. 

In an effort to address these pressing challenges, the Kenyan edtech startup has created an online K-12 school in Africa. The classes are personalised with a ratio of one teacher to every five students, the tutors are highly trained and well-motivated and is inclusive of a comprehensive extracurricular program for socialisation. 

With a 360 approach to education, Kidato has also implemented a one laptop per student programme which aims to reduce the financial burden on parents as they do not have to purchase new hardware and software when enrolling their child.

“The demand for online education has grown from the convergence of a fast-growing middle class and high internet penetration with enabling infrastructure services such as Zoom that has seen easier adoption of remote work. Additionally, cutting out commute time in highly congested cities is a welcome relief for parents as it means being able to spend more time with their children; plus reduce geographic constraints since they can now work and study from anywhere,” explains Kidato. 

According to Kidato, middle-class families in Africa also have the advantage of affordable live-in-help unlike in the West, making the combination of remote work plus online education for families a manageable reality. 

The After School product created by Kidato aims to democratise supplementary skill-based learning. Traditionally, learning enrichment centres were only available in ‘affluent suburbs’ and access to the After School offering enables each learner with internet access to access live interest-based learning from anywhere in Africa 

Courses such as coding, chess, art, debating, and others cost as little as $5 per lesson. 

The edtech startup plans to partner with both local and international universities to create knowledge-sharing platforms for our tutors and students. 

“Additionally, we are partnering with corporations to align our after-school classes to include monthly educational field trips which will increase our students’ exposure to the practical needs of the industries they expect to get into,” adds Kidato.

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Featured image: Kidato (Supplied)