Twelve South African startups have been selected for the second edition of the Injini Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship in South Africa, which offers companies access to funding and other types of support.
Founded in 2017, Injini, which is a member of the UVU Africa Group, is a registered non-profit company that exists for the sole purpose of improving educational outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. The only ed-tech specialised accelerator in Africa, its programmes and research via the Injini Think Tank contribute towards its mission to increase the quality, accessibility, and relevance of education in the region.
Disrupt Africa reported last year Injini had partnered the Mastercard Foundation to launch the EdTech Fellowship for South Africa-based startups. The initiative empowers eligible startups with direct grant funding, product quality evaluation, intensive skill development, coaching, mentorship, bespoke market research, and market access.
Twelve ventures have now been selected for the second edition of the programme after a rigorous application and interview process. They will gain access to dedicated support from specialists in education innovation, fundraising, impact M&E, commerce, and more; customised market research support from Injini’s team of education innovation researchers; collaboration opportunities with experts across diverse fields; and networking, knowledge-sharing, and learning opportunities with key ecosystem contributors and industry experts.
They will also gain access to a selection of courses and office hours from the Human-Computer Interaction Institute faculty members at Carnegie Mellon University, and equity-free venture funding exceeding ZAR1 million (US$52,000).
The selected startups include Book Village, an online tutoring platform for reading; E-Cubed, which offers free, digital, chat-based entrepreneurial learning, connection and innovation opportunities for teachers, learners, parents and officials; EcoLabs Africa, which optimises ICT infrastructure in township and rural schools by repurposing obsolete computer equipment; and Fintr, which uses games to teach children about money.
Also selected are Global Teachers Institute (GTI), which GTI partners with schools, government and higher education institutions to offer work-integrated learning placements for aspiring teachers; Grow ECD, which provides an ECD management app; Mindjoy, which provides an operating system for classroom learning; and Finding Thabo, an interactive play-based game designed to stimulate key parts of the brain and build foundations for lifelong learning.
Completing the cohort are RoboSTEAM, which specialises in teaching coding and robotics to primary school learners; SOCO_ED, which provides a versatile ed-tech solution suitable for any industry; Ubuntu Education, which empowers African teachers with resources, networks, and growth opportunities; and Vambo AI, which empowers learners and educators with multilingual capabilities integrated into the curriculum and learning experience.
“As South Africa’s education sector navigates its numerous challenges, Injini is eager to continue its work with the Mastercard Foundation in championing these Fellows and assisting them to scale their business, increase their impact and effect meaningful change in education across the region,” said Injini executive director Krista Davidson.
