almentor raises USD 10 million in a pre-Series round as investors continue to back edtech sector.
UAE-based edtech startup almentor has raised USD 10 million a pre-Series C round led by e& capital, alongside existing investors Partech, Sawari Ventures, Egypt Ventures, Sango Capital and Endure Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate almentor’s growth, increase its investment in the B2C segment and expand to Saudi Arabia.
This continues the trend of investors buying into edtech startups within the MENA region. Shape, a professional develop platform from Tunisia, received funding from The Oman Technology Fund, Kuwait’s Baims recently raised USD 4 million to develop its courses and offerings to MENA region students, and Morocco’s SmartProf raised USD 110,000 to expand its tutoring platform across Morocco and North Africa.
Almentor – Targeting an underserved market
Almentor was founded in 2016 by Abdelrhman Fahmy, Hesham Heikal, Husni Khuffash, Ibrahim Kamel and Ihab Fikry. The startup is an Arabic video-based online learning platform accessible through B2C and B2B channels. The company’s goal is to serve ten million learners in the MENA region.
According to almentor, there are 400 million Arabic speakers with underserved educational needs. The MENA region’s population is growing at a faster pace than the populations of developed markets, but spending and investment in education lags behind in comparison to developed markets. According to the company, the region suffers from a high ratio of students to teachers – 16.5 in the UAE, 19.6 in KSA, and 24.2 in Egypt, compared to 15.1 in the US and in the UK. almentor aims to bridge the gap by providing affordable education and improving learners’ access to the employment market.
Comprehensive offerings
Since its founding, almentor has worked with over 950 mentors to create over 1,000 online courses for individuals, corporations, and government entities. The start-up recently launched its monthly and annual subscription plans where learners get unlimited access to a library of over 700 courses on topics as diverse as health, humanities, technology, entrepreneurship, business management, lifestyle, drama, sports, corporate communication, and digital media.
Dr. Ihab Fikry, co-founder and CEO of Almentor, and Mr Ibrahim Kamel, co-founder and COO, said in a statement that, “Empowering ten million learners is a key milestone in almentor’s broader vision of creating hope and development opportunities for the people in MENA. We are very proud and excited to partner with an institution such as e& to create further impact in almentor’s journey.”
New hires and promotions
The company has recently made a series of senior hires and promotions. Sonia Lekhal has joined as Chief Customer Officer from talabat. Adel Khalil, Chief Technology Officer, has joined from the same company. Sally Metwally has risen to Chief Business Development Officer, Tharwat Ibrahim has become Chief Finance Officer and Ahmed Faysal has been promoted to Chief Content Production Officer.