HolonIQ Africa EdTech 50
HolonIQ’s annual list of the most innovative EdTech startups across Sub-Saharan Africa.
17 September 2020
In September 2020, HolonIQ announced our first annual Africa EdTech 50 — a list of the 50 most innovative education technology startups across Sub-Saharan Africa.
There are an estimated 226 million young people between the ages of 15-24 living in Africa, representing nearly 20% of Africa’s population, and making up one-fifth of the world’s youth. Educating Africa’s youth is a major focus for every country and remains a key challenge for many geographies. At the same time, there are thousands of African EdTech entrepreneurs working across all parts of the sector to support teachers, schools, students and parents for greater access to education and impact from learning.
The HolonIQ Africa EdTech 50 recognizes the most innovative and impactful EdTech teams working in Sub-Saharan Africa and it’s not surprising to see a focus on provision of access to learning through content and resources, language and literacy as well as organizations whose focus is to amplify the work of teachers, schools and institutions. Tech upskilling also features throughout, from K12 coding to adult IT skills and jobs.
Methodology
The HolonIQ Education Intelligence Unit evaluated 700+ organizations from the region powered by data and insights from our Global Intelligence Platform.
HolonIQ's Scoring Fingerprint
HolonIQ and select Africa market experts assessed each organization based on HolonIQ’s startup scoring rubric, which covers the following dimensions:
Market. The quality and relative attractiveness of the specific market in which the company competes.
Product. The quality and uniqueness of the product itself.
Team. The expertise and diversity of the team.
Capital. The financial health of the company and in particular its ability to generate or secure sufficient funding.
Momentum. Positive changes in the size and velocity of the company over time.
Sector & Country
EdTech startups with a focus on the K12 sector dominates the 2020 Africa EdTech 50, which is perhaps not surprising given the scale of youth and size of this market in Africa.
In terms of country headquarters, the larger economies of South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Ethiopia provide the greatest number of EdTech startups, with teams also represented from Sierra Leone and Mauritius.
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