Andela, the African-founded network for remote engineering talent, has raised $200 million to invest in developing products to simplify global hiring and make engineers’ lives easier.
Andela will continue to expand its talent offering beyond software development to include new verticals such as design and data after launching Salesforce development earlier this year.
“Andela has always been the high-quality option for those building remote engineering teams. Now that the world has come to embrace remote work, Andela has become the obvious choice for companies because we can find better talent, faster,” says Jeremy Johnson, CEO and co-founder of Andela. “If you are a talented engineer, Andela opens up a world of possibilities for you, no matter where you are based.”
The Series E financing, which values the company at $1.5 billion, was led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 with participation from new investor Whale Rock and existing investors including Generation Investment Management, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Spark Capital. Lydia Jett, Founding Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers and one of the most respected consumer technology investors in the world, will join Andela’s Board of Directors.
With the new capital, the company will invest in developing products to simplify global hiring and make engineers’ lives easier. In addition, Andela will continue to expand its talent offering beyond software development to include new verticals such as design and data after launching Salesforce development earlier this year.
These new veritcals will help Andela beat its competition in Africa after new startups emerged to take up its place when Andela went fully remote. Startups such as Gebeya, Semicolon, Decagon, eWorker, TalentQL among others have launched across Africa with the aim of developing software talent for global firms.
“This new round of funding enables Andela to strengthen our already extensive network of incredible talent in Africa and across the world, as we systematically connect the best software engineers with global opportunities”, says Agnes Muthoni, Director of the Andela Learning Community at Andela. “Being backed by a diverse group of renowned and experienced investors is a testament to the growing importance of remote work, and how Andela is at the forefront of helping companies scale their engineering teams at a rapid pace”
A fully remote organization with more than 300 employees around the world, Andela is hiring top talent across the board, particularly in Product, Engineering, and Growth.
In January 2019, Andela completed a $100M Series D funding led by Generation Investment Management with participation from existing investors including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, Spark Capital, and CRE Venture Capital bringing to $180 million its total $$$ raised. Todays announcement puts the total raised by Andela to $380 million, making Andela one of Africa’s unicorns.
Becoming the fourth unicorn from Africa after OPay, Flutterwave and Jumia, Andela was launched in 2014 to help companies build remote engineering teams by providing them with access to the best software engineers in the world. Today, the Andela network represents engineers from more than 80 countries and six continents with leading technology companies including Github, Cloudflare and ViacomCBS among its customers.
“Hiring remote technical talent is one of the top challenges that companies face today. We believe Andela will become the preferred talent partner for the world’s best companies as remote and hybrid work arrangements become the norm,” said Lydia Jett, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “We are delighted to support Jeremy and the Andela team in their mission to connect these companies with brilliant engineers, and in the process, unlock human potential at scale.”