Edtech Go1 is SA’s first unicorn after closing $200m round

Leading corporate edtech Go1 has announced the closing of a $200-million Series D funding round. The round skyrocketed the company into unicorn status, bringing its valuation to over $1 billion.

“…we exist to unlock positive potential in people through a love for learning.”

Founded by SA entrepreneur Melvyn Lubega and Australian national Andrew Barnes in 2015, the edtech platform collates existing learning material from leading global educational institutions into a central digital library, making corporate training simple for employees and employers. 

South Africa’s first unicorn

Newly-established VC SoftBank Vision2 led the round, supported by Airtree Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Blue Cloud Ventures, Larsen Ventures, TEN13, and Tiger Global. 

Co-founder and Director Lubega commented on the round in a statement, saying he is humbled to look back on the Go1’s journey so far. 

“It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come, but our North Star has remained the same, which is that we exist to unlock positive potential in people through a love for learning. I think that, ultimately, this raise validates the size of the problem we’re trying to solve and the size of the opportunity to address that problem,” he said.

The platform currently services 3.5 million learners in over 1 600 corporates worldwide. This investment will be used to expand and improve the current offering, create new, innovative learning tools and resources and penetrate US, European and SA markets through new partnerships.

“Powered by AI and machine learning, Go1’s platform provides an intuitive experience, and creates an opportunity for individuals to expand their professional development goals and explore the resources to help achieve them,” stated Nagraj Kashyap, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. 

“With premier education providers such as EdX, Coursera, Skillsoft, and Harvard as part of Go1’s subscription, organisations can curate learning content to fit the needs and interests of its workforce. We are delighted to partner with Melvyn, Andrew and the Go1 team to help advance their vision of reaching one billion learners,” she added.

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Featured image:  Leon via Unsplash