Nigerian edtech, Teesas to improve its offering with its $1.6 million pre-seed funding round

Nigerian-focused edtech startup, Teesas has raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed round led by Haresh Aswani, Tolaram Group’s Africa managing director.

Fully launched in November after its beta testing in August, Teesas offers video classes and other digital educational material for learners in Nigeria. Even though, the edtech startup intends to expand to other parts of the continent, its content is designed according to the Nigeria's national curriculum.

Learners access the content via live and recorded formats, through a subscription program from N3,000 monthly to N8,100 quarterly and N27,000 yearly. It is also available as a bundled offer on the Imose Omotab 2 educational tablets.

In addition to other subjects, Teesas also offers classes in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ibibio, Bini, Ijaw, Tiv and many other local languages and gamified teaching methods with animations and musicals.

"Live classes deal with concepts where learners have challenges. The learners sit with teachers in small remote classes of 10 or 15 for a personalized engagement, and to get more rigor into the teaching process", Osayi Izedonmwen, the Founder of Teesas told TechCrunch.

With the funding, the edtech startup intends to expand into new markets, launch a marketplace that will link its K-12 learners with tutors for private lessons, and expand the range of products in its portfolio.

Inspired by the increasing spate of bullying in Nigeria, Teesas is prioritizing anti-cyberbullying measures. It will also introduce life-skill classes in the first half of next year to prepare learners for self-discovery.

Currently, Teesas has over 150,000 downloads at the Google Play store with 20% weekly growth. Izedonmwen intends to leverage the models of Indian edtech company, Byju to ensure effective indigenous adaptation.

According to him, "Teesas is going to have the biggest impact on the future of education in Africa. And I really want to be certain that I’m putting my best effort in leading that transformation – that’s why I’m focusing on it fully".

"We believe in the mission Izedonmwen and the Teesas team has set forth on, and we are confident that they are best suited to crack the challenge of using technology to enhance access to quality education across Africa", Haresh Aswani, the lead investor stated.

Prior to announcing this  fundraise, the company signed Nollywood actress Mercy Johnson-Okojie as its first brand ambassador to assist in its objective of deepening learning among Nigerian children.

Recently, Nigeria's uLesson and Edukoya raised Series B and pre-seed funding respectively to double down their efforts in revolutionizing learning for young learners across the continent, Teesas will now join these two and other edtech startups across the continent to achieve the shared vision.

Teesas is currently hiring tutors. Find out here.