By Yousef Saba
DUBAI (Reuters) – Classera, an education technology company headquartered in San Francisco, said on Thursday it had raised $40 million from investors, which it said was the sector’s largest funding round for a company with no prior funding.
The Series A round was led by Sanabil Investments, fully owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF). Other investors were Global Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, 500 Global, Sukna Venture and Seedra Ventures.
“The round additionally included a diverse set of investors from Silicon Valley, emerging markets, and global family offices,” the company said in a statement, without naming them.
A breakdown of the value of the investments was not disclosed.
It said proceeds would be used to continue developing its Learning Super Platform (LSP) for the education and corporate e-training sectors, and to cement its position as a global leader in e-learning and EdTech.
The funds will also be used to target further growth in the Middle East and Africa, and to quicken global expansion, including in Asia Pacific, via direct sales, channel partners, and acquisitions, it said.
“Many learning institutions, especially after the pandemic, are convinced they need the next generation of e-learning solutions,” Classera co-founder and CEO Mohammad Almadani said in the statement.
Sanabil said in the same statement it was “fully committed to enable Classera to further expand its reach to learners across all socio-economic backgrounds.”
Classera, which began by focusing on the Middle East and Africa, said it had “one of the highest engagement metrics in the e-learning industry globally in the last academic year”, and a near 70% market share in several markets in the Middle East and more than 10 billion page views on its platform.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba; Editing by David Holmes)
