Egyptian book summary mobile app Akhdar has raised a six-figure US dollar seed funding round to help it further develop its product.
Founded in 2017 by Mohamed Osama, Akhdar began life as a YouTube channel summarising books through short and engaging videos, helping readers to grasp the main ideas presented by those books.
The startup has since launched a mobile application that features hundreds of videos for audio and printed books covering more than 16 different genres. The cultural platform generates simplified content from various books and presents it in a modern and engaging way to young readers.
“Akhdar started with the aim of providing simplified summaries and information about different books for people who didn’t have time to read. Back then, we didn’t have a very clear vision of what we wanted to achieve. We worked very hard with the limited resources we had to build our platform and to be able to continue presenting useful content,” Osama said.
It has now secured a six-figure seed funding round from EdVentures, the venture capital arm of Egypt’s Nahdet Misr Publishing Group, which it will use to add various new categories and topics its library and to provide readers with a smart learning experience to make the most of the content available on the platform.
“We are quite excited about the coming period. Our new partnership with EdVentures will definitely add a lot to our business, especially with Nahdet Misr’s extensive experience in education and content creation,” said Osama.
Dalia Ibrahim, founder of EdVentures and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nahdet Misr Publishing House, said her company was always keen to support and nourish educational startups.
“We see this investment as a new brick we add to enrich the readers’ community with a smart and fun learning experience. Akhdar will use it to enhance its online application through the usage of gamification and other new ed-tech features to provide more engaging content and an enhanced user experience. We will also be working closely with the team to further expand their services in order to cover a wider range of users,” she said.
