The news:
- Nigerian edtech startup Klas has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding to scale its plan of serving up to 100,000 virtual schools globally, focusing on North America and India, its second-biggest user base, by 2027.
- Ingressive Capital led the round, with Techstars, HoaQ Capital, and several angel investors participating.
Nathan Nwachuku (CEO) and Lekan Adejumo (CTO) founded Klas in 2022 to provide a platform for creating and selling courses, ebooks, and live classes.
The online platform supports disciplines ranging from coding to finance and includes essential features such as payments, scheduling, analytics, video conferencing, and community options. It caters to several subjects, such as design, finance, art, and languages.
Nwachuku explains that what Klas is trying to do for its users is similar to what Shopify does for online stores. Klas' lofty goal is to create a platform that allows anyone to set up an online school and run classes.
In 2021, Nwachuku partnered with Klas' current CTO, Adejumo, and raised a $180,000 angel round. The following year, they launched the Klas platform and gained entry into Techstars.
The company claims to fill a void left by complex existing edtech platforms by providing users with simple features and seamless experiences. Nwachukwu stated that Klas is doing this to make it easier to create online classes, thereby positioning its users for economic inclusion in light of the growing global demand for online education.
The online learning platform asserts that it will not integrate third-party tools such as Google Meet or Slack because it is developing every feature from scratch, reinforcing its closed-system model.
Currently, Klass serves a user base of around 300,00 learners from over 30 countries attending more than 5,000 online schools. Nwachuku says that the creators of these classes have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Klas is one of the few African startups catering to a global clientele, although most of its users are from Nigeria.
Users in Nigeria can transact on the platform using Naira (₦), and those outside of Nigeria can use dollars ($).
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By 2027, Klas hopes to serve up to 100,000 virtual schools globally, focusing on North America and India, its second-biggest user base. The new capital infusion is expected to accelerate this plan.
The startup charges a 5% transaction fee for its free plan. The company plans to introduce an enterprise option in the upcoming months, priced at $199, aimed at helping large businesses upskill their employees.
Sunil Sharma, Managing Director of Techstars in Toronto, expressed confidence in the company and its founders.
“This confidence was further demonstrated by our follow-on investment in the company, something we like to do when presented with exceptional opportunities,” he adds.
