Nigerian edtech startup Edukoya has shut down. The company confirmed this in a statement to stakeholders seen by Techpoint Africa.
Edukoya, which raised Africa’s largest pre-seed funding of $3.5 million in 2021, cited market readiness, widespread connectivity issues, and limited access to devices as key challenges. It also highlighted the lack of disposable income and broader macroeconomic conditions, which made mass-market adoption difficult.
“Edukoya encountered significant market readiness challenges in scaling our synchronous learning model,” the email read.
The company concluded that it was ahead of its time and decided to wind down operations, returning capital to investors.
Nigerian edtech startup Edukoya has shut down. The company confirmed this in a statement to stakeholders seen by Techpoint Africa.
Edukoya, which raised Africa’s largest pre-seed funding of $3.5 million in 2021, cited market readiness, widespread connectivity issues, and limited access to devices as key challenges. It also highlighted the lack of disposable income and broader macroeconomic conditions, which made mass-market adoption difficult.
“Edukoya encountered significant market readiness challenges in scaling our synchronous learning model,” the email read.
The company concluded that it was ahead of its time and decided to wind down operations, returning capital to investors.
Edukoya’s mission
Launched in 2021, Edukoya set out to redefine online K-12 learning in Africa by providing digital education content and online tutoring for students and parents.
Founder and CEO, Honey Ogundeyi, was inspired to tackle the educational challenges she experienced growing up in Nigeria. Having had the opportunity to study in the UK, she observed stark contrasts between Nigeria’s education system and that of the West.
“Even the most brilliant students can be let down by the system,” she said in a 2021 interview with TechCrunch.
“If my parents hadn’t made the sacrifice for me to go abroad, all the successes I’ve had in my career would have been completely different. Now, I have two kids, and seeing that same problem of going to school and struggling with some subjects made me look into getting after-school teachers. It struck me that this issue has remained largely unchanged for the last 50 years. Despite innovations across different industries, Africa’s education system has stagnated.”
From dilapidated schools to an alarming student-to-teacher ratio of 46:1, access to quality education in Nigeria and across Africa remains a significant challenge, making platforms like Edukoya a welcome innovation.
Nigerian edtech startup Edukoya has shut down. The company confirmed this in a statement to stakeholders seen by Techpoint Africa.
Edukoya, which raised Africa’s largest pre-seed funding of $3.5 million in 2021, cited market readiness, widespread connectivity issues, and limited access to devices as key challenges. It also highlighted the lack of disposable income and broader macroeconomic conditions, which made mass-market adoption difficult.
“Edukoya encountered significant market readiness challenges in scaling our synchronous learning model,” the email read.
The company concluded that it was ahead of its time and decided to wind down operations, returning capital to investors.
Edukoya’s mission
Launched in 2021, Edukoya set out to redefine online K-12 learning in Africa by providing digital education content and online tutoring for students and parents.
Founder and CEO, Honey Ogundeyi, was inspired to tackle the educational challenges she experienced growing up in Nigeria. Having had the opportunity to study in the UK, she observed stark contrasts between Nigeria’s education system and that of the West.
“Even the most brilliant students can be let down by the system,” she said in a 2021 interview with TechCrunch.
“If my parents hadn’t made the sacrifice for me to go abroad, all the successes I’ve had in my career would have been completely different. Now, I have two kids, and seeing that same problem of going to school and struggling with some subjects made me look into getting after-school teachers. It struck me that this issue has remained largely unchanged for the last 50 years. Despite innovations across different industries, Africa’s education system has stagnated.”
From dilapidated schools to an alarming student-to-teacher ratio of 46:1, access to quality education in Nigeria and across Africa remains a significant challenge, making platforms like Edukoya a welcome innovation.
According to its email to stakeholders, Edukoya made notable progress in its mission to redefine online learning.
“We achieved significant impact: over 80,000 students used our platform, more than 15 million questions were answered, and thousands of daily live classes were conducted.”
Shutting down instead of burning funds
Despite its user base and integration of artificial intelligence into its product, Edukoya ultimately decided that shutting down and returning capital was the best course of action.
The company explained that it preferred to wind down operations “rather than deplete resources chasing scale in a challenging market.”
Although the amount to be returned to investors is unknown, an investor who requested anonymity told Techpoint Africa that Ogundeyi’s decision to shut down “demonstrates an ability to recognise when market forces make VC-scale outcomes unviable and return investor capital, thus upholding investor confidence.”
The startup, which operated for nearly three years, explored partnerships, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and business model pivots before reaching its decision.
Its choice to shut down instead of exhausting its funding suggests that the company still had the capital to continue operating. However, reports of layoffs and a potential pivot to fintech indicate that the startup may have been struggling for some time.
When asked about this, Edukoya denied pivoting to fintech, clarifying that Koya App—a platform that helps children learn about saving while providing them with a debit card—was not a pivot but a separate initiative.
While the company did not comment on the reported layoffs, sources told Techpoint Africa that they were due to over-hiring. They also shared that the startup’s office had been closed for over six months.
The state of edtech in Africa
While startups like Quizac and Edukoya have shut down, there are still optimistic projections for Africa’s edtech sector, with the market expected to reach $400 million in 2024.
Education has long been ripe for disruption in Africa, yet few edtech platforms have managed to scale successfully, even with funding.
According to a Techpoint Africa analysis of the edtech market, improvements in internet connectivity and infrastructure would significantly enhance the reach of edtech platforms.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, emphasised this point at the 2024 Mastercard Foundation Edtech conference, stating:
“Inclusion is the cornerstone of edtech. If we fail to reach all learners, we fail to fulfil our potential to revolutionise education.”