Egyptian startup Educatly, a premier global network in higher education, is planning serious expansion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region after raising US$2.5 million in seed funding.
Founded by Mohamed El-Sonbaty, Abdelrahman Ayman and Joan Manuel in 2020, Educatly democratises access to higher education opportunities by allowing students to search, compare and apply to over 130,000 live and up-to-date higher education opportunities from more than 1,100 universities across 90 countries.
The platform serves over three million students, and is operational in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nigeria, Kenya, and Ireland. It targets reaching seven million students by the end of 2024, however, and with that in mind recently secured a US$2.5 million round of funding led by TLcom Capital and Plus VC, with participation from Egypt Venture and Ireland’s HBAN syndicate.
“Educatly’s expansion plans focus on multiple pillars. The first pillar is regional expansion. Eduactly aims to attract more students beyond the current three million. Simultaneously, we intend to establish a physical presence in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. We see significant potential in North African countries as well,” said El-Sonbaty.
The second pillar involves investing in technology to reach a larger number of students more rapidly, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence.
“This will enable us to collaborate with more universities and offer tailored programmes. Additionally, by the end of the year, they aim to launch new services to further help students identify their career paths and provide an enhanced digital experience,” he said.
How exactly does the platform work? It has three key focus areas – students, universities, and financial support.
For students, Educatly helps in selecting their specialisations and finding the programmes and universities that match their skills, whether at the undergraduate or graduate level, and facilitates easy enrollment. It also enables students to connect with other students at their target universities to share experiences and knowledge.
Meanwhile, it provides a digital map of various educational institutions worldwide, simplifying the process of searching for educational opportunities for users.
“The platform collaborates with more than 1,100 universities across more than 500 specialisations and aims to extend the number of collaborations to 1,500 new universities in 2024,” El-Sonbaty said.
When it comes to financial support, meanwhile, Educatly collaborates with partners outside Egypt to help students’ secure financial support through various installment plans.
“We are currently negotiating with the Central Bank of Egypt to obtain a license that will enable us to provide students with financing to support their education,” said El-Sonbaty.
El-Sonbaty, Ayman and Manuel founded Educatly based on El-Sonbaty’s own struggles while contemplating his field of study.
“I initially pursued engineering because my father wanted me to, but I found that I did not enjoy the field and never worked as an engineer. Instead, I began building companies from my first year at university and discovered a passion for entrepreneurship,” he said.
“I decided to pursue a master’s degree related to this interest and came across numerous programs at various universities. This abundance of choices left me feeling confused and unsure about which university would be the best fit.”
Educatly looks to address all these issues, and its strong uptake has resulted in strong revenue growth. The startup achieved sales of US$1.5 million in 2023 compared to US$200,000 in 2022, and 2024 looks set to be even better as the startup expands further.
