Startup Bringing Employable Tech Training to Africa Raises Large Series A Round

Andela, a startup constructing computer science educations programs across Africa, has raised a Series A round led by Spark Capital.

The round is believed to worth more than $10 million.

Andela was founded by Canadian entrepreneur Ian Carnevale, as well as Jeremy Johnson, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, and Christina Sass.

The company pays kids to learn how to code, then finds them paying jobs. In the process Andela is creating a new a new model education and hiring.

However, so far the acceptance rate for applicants has been less than 1%—significantly lower than, say, Harvard (5.9%) or Princeton (7.4%). The program is currently taking in an average of less than a dozen students per month, though the founders say this number will increase with the new capital.