Craydel, a Kenyan edtech startup, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding led by Enza Capital. Other investors in the round include Future of Learning Fund, BriteGaze, Bisk Ventures, Chandaria Capital, LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund and Tekton Ventures as well as angel investors.
Founded this year by Manish Sardana, John Nguru and Shayne Aman Premji, Craydel is on a mission to democratise access to quality higher education for students and working professionals in Sub Saharan Africa.
“An estimated $30 billion is spent every year on higher education in Africa,” Sardana, Craydel’s CEO, said. “But the current student experience in accessing higher education is abysmal. There is no aggregation of choices, and decision-making is influenced by biases and misinformation.”
“We are transforming the way students discover, compare and apply to higher education in Africa,” he said.
With the new funding, Craydel will build its search and recommendation engine for more spot-on suggestions, as well as build resources that will help students and professionals in the decision-making.
Commenting, Enza Capital managing partner Mike Mompi, who will be joining Craydel’s board of directors said: “Access to higher education and skills development for Africa’s growing youth population remains fragmented, yet is a fundamental cornerstone to our accelerated development.”
