Nigerian tech company, Andela has raised $100 million in Series D funding.
This round of investment was led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s sustainability-focused investment firm, Generation Investment Management (Generation IM). According to CB Insights, Generation IM is currently the third-largest venture investment ever for an African company.
Andela, is a tech company that trains developers in Africa and hires them out to global tech companies. This round of funding brings Andela’s total funding till date to about $180 million from 4 investment round. Thus, Andela has become one of the most highly funded African tech companies.
In 2015, Andela raised $14 million (series A funding) and $24 million (series B funding) led by Spark Capital and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). In 2017, the startup raised $40 million in Series C funding, led by CRE Venture Capital with additional support from DBL Partners, Amplo, Salesforce Ventures, and TLcom Capital.
Speaking on the investment, Lilly Wollman of Generation Investment Management says investment in Andela became necessary because large-scale remote work could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Remote collaboration, and allowing people not to get on planes, obviously has carbon benefits.”
Lilly Wollman of Generation Investment Management.
Also according to her, it is expected that the outsourcing startup places 10,000 developers with clients within the next several years.
Andela was launched in 2014 to train African software developers and place them in jobs at some of the world’s top technology firms. Andela now operates in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda with campuses to train developers.
Andela has about 1,100 developers on staff (which is about 1% of total applicants) working for more than 200 companies, nearly 90 percent of which are located in the U.S.
The company was named the Best Company to Work for in Africa at the Great Place to Work Awards in 2018 as well as ” The Best Place to Work in Nigeria for 2018″ by Jobberman.
