Teesas, a Nigerian edtech startup, has closed a $1.6 million pre-seed funding.
The round was led by Haresh Aswani, Tolaram Group’s Africa managing director, with the participation of Olivegreen Advisory Partners, an Africa-focused venture studio, and other angel investors.
Tessas will use the new funding to expand into new markets, launch a marketplace that will link learners with tutors for private lessons, and expand the range of products in its portfolio.
Founded by Osayi Izedonmwen and launched in November 2021, Teesas describes itself as Africa’s Learning Gateway for Higher Exam Grades with Tutorials from Africa’s Best Teachers.
Teesas provides high quality video tutorials from Africa’s best teachers that explain foundational concepts with delivery in English and major local languages to deepen understanding.
With an app that has been downloaded 150,000 times, Teesas is designed to provide a strong foundation for entrance exams into top Secondary schools with tailored exam preparation content tailored for superior performance.
Commenting, Izedonmwen said: “We started beta testing around August this year, and fully launched the android version in November. Already Teesas has over 150,000 downloads at the Google Play store, where we are now growing by at least 20% every week.”
Teesas’ content is aligned with Nigeria’s national curriculum, and is delivered to learners in both live and recorded formats, through a subscription program that starts at $6 (N2465) a month. In addition to regular school work, the startup also offers local language classes.
“Live classes deal with concepts where learners have challenges. The learners sit with teachers in small remote classes of 10 or 15 for a personalized engagement, and to get more rigor into the teaching process,” said Izedonmwen.
On future plans, Izedonmwen said the edtech startup will introduce life-skill classes in the first half of next year to prepare learners for self-discovery. This is in addition to anti-bullying lessons, inspired by the reports of increasing spate of bullying in Nigeria, with some incidents leading to death.
For Haresh Aswani, the lead investor in the round, he said: “We believe in the mission Izedonmwen and the Teesas team has set forth on, and we are confident that they are best suited to crack the challenge of using technology to enhance access to quality education across Africa.”
