iSchool, an Egyptian platform providing STEAM learning courses for children, has raised US$160,000 in pre-seed funding from EdVentures, the venture capital arm of Egypt’s Nahdet Misr Publishing Group.
With the funds received, the Cairo-based startup will develop an online platform, expand its offerings and expand across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Launched in 2018, by Mohammed Algawish, Mustafa AbdelMon’em, Ebrahim Youssef and Mohammed Nabil, iSchool offers a parallel Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) educational experience for children aged between 6 to 18 years old.
The startup aims to help young students learn and go forward to have careers in software development, artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, IoT, and multimedia. Its STEAM programme comprises learning objectives,milestones,projects,activities,certificates and competitions all customized to fit the student’s age.
iSchool is the first Egyptian ed-tech startup to be accredited by a STEM organization after winning the first place at the Bizex Startup Competition and gaining recognition by Egypt’s Ministry of Investment as the most influential startup.
Since its inception, iSchool has trained more than 7,500 students in six different countries and it has now secured US$160,000 in funding to help it scale. In addition, the startup has over 300 teachers and has completed 30,000+ training hours on its platform.
Creating a new generation of innovative leaders has always been our vision from day one. We are glad that a leading company in the field of education, such as Nahdet Misr and its arm EdVentures, is sharing the same vision we have. Their investment and support will accelerate our growth to develop and expand our services in more countries,” said Algawish.
In our ever-changing world, it is quite crucial to equip our youth with different skills and knowledge enabling them to become innovators. Such skills are acquired through STEAM education. iSchool will help us empower more students by developing their critical thinking skills and setting them up for future success,” said Dalia Ibrahim, chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of EdVentures.
EdVentures supports and invests in startups specializing in education, culture and innovative learning solutions in seed and pre-Series A rounds focusing on Egypt, Africa and the Arab World. The corporate VC fund was launched in 2017 by Nahdet Misr Publishing House.