Andela- $40 Million and what that means for us all

Fun Fact: Andela was coined from the name Mandela.

I learnt about this from the tour guide at the Nairobi campus a few months ago on a tech tour to Nairobi’s tech ecosystem.

Idris Ayo Bello‘s post on Facebook was the first I read yesterday just after I woke up:

 

“As arguably Andela’s Investor No 2, and its first Nigerian Investor, I am exceptionally pleased Proud to announce @Andela’s $40M Series C led by CRE Venture Capital. In addition to being a major milestone for Andela, it also represents a milestone for the African tech ecosystem as it is the largest venture round ever led by an African VC fund into an Africa-based business.

It is exciting to see how much has happened in the last 4 years from our humble Fora beginning with Aboyeji E Iyinoluwa to transitioning to Andela with Iyin, Jeremy Johnson and the rest of the team- Ian Carnevale Christina SassNad, Brice, and now with over 800 Andela Fellows, being led by amazing folks like Seni Sulyman . Its humbling to think that between when the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation came in till now, we have gone from 300 to 800 Fellows while also expanding to Uganda.

It is well known that Andela’s mission is to advance human potential by powering today’s teams and investing in tomorrow’s leaders.

Back in 2014, YABA got her first technology campus called “Amity” – Andela’s very own habitat for African software engineers. The company definitely decided to plunge full body into the pool of talents that reside in Africa, a continent full of youthful energy and vibes, refine them and present them to the global market.

Fast forward to 2017, some hours ago, the news hit the industry that Andela raised $40 million in her series C funding. It created some reactions in the African Tech ecosystem like

Congratulations to #Andela on your series C round, you have shown Nigerian & African #Tech start ups the infinite possibility of potential. pic.twitter.com/h9V0yKPRDt

— Intense (@intenseNG) October 11, 2017

and some others like:

 

Who else in is singing $40m more for the akant oh! Congrats @Andela!

— Victor Asemota (@asemota) October 10, 2017

While there are few negative comments in the tech space it is obvious that Andela has so far done a great job. As any school teacher would know, imparting knowledge in a structured environment takes a lot of financial and emotional strength, aside the fact that you understand business, to be able to deliver a quality product  in the tech education space especially grooming quality software engineers, you also need a large amount of emotional investment in the company.

“Training anyone to a level of competency, you have to be passionate about their growth” 

– Banjo Mofesola Paul, co-founder Planet NEST (a talent accelerator for software engineers) 

 

What does this mean for us all?

Hey, Ninjas, funding is upon us, run for your life :)!!!

1. Every talent accelerator in the African tech ecosystem would most definitely have less stress pitching how viable the developer/talent strength of developers in Africa is to international investors.
2. More investors will begin to look into investing into Andela like startups, if you are a local investor and you know any startup like that, this is the best time to invest in them. Sheel Tyle is already raising $100 million for startups like Andela.
3. The interest rate towards development would increase amidst Africans. The Andela Learning Community is growing in a geometric progression, soon to explode, Andela has indeed paved the way for other startups to have a smooth ride, the explosion will be enough for all.

Africa definitely has a lot of talents in different areas that needs be harnessed, we need more startups like Andela in different sectors of tech and not just software engineering.

Who is ready to take the bull by the horns?