10 Jan SEAF Invests in Innovative Moroccan Digital Education Company
SEAF Morocco Growth Fund invests in eDukaty, an innovative company specializing in digital education
January 14th, 2019
Morocco – The SEAF Morocco Growth Fund (SMGF), an investment fund whose strategy is to invest in high-growth, innovative companies based in Morocco, is pleased to announce its second investment in eDukaty. eDukaty provides online courses for French-speaking students to prepare for competitive admissions exams.
eDukaty, a pioneering company in the live virtual class experience
Founded in 2014, eDukaty is a Morocco-based EdTech company offering live virtual classes to students in Morocco, France and any other country where there is interest in preparing for competitive French examinations. eDukaty has developed a “one to many” live virtual private tutoring service, allowing top teachers to deliver seamless live teaching experience to students over the internet, regardless of their location. eDukaty’s platform provides a unique user experience befitting their customer base: students and teachers benefit from the platform’s strong value proposition, which combines convenience, and accessibility, and allows for efficiency in terms of productivity, timing and personal organization.
After 4 years, eDukaty is the leader in its niche segment – prep courses for admission exams to Top French Business and Engineering Schools – with an estimated 60% market share in Morocco. During 2018, eDukaty launched its operations in France. With SEAF’s investment, the Company plans to extend its geographical footprint to French speaking countries and to expand its services to broader high-growth learning segments.
Pioneering and Mission-driven Co-founders
eDukaty was conceived by its two co-founders – Walid Daou and Othmane Akherraz – with a vision to design a better tutoring offer and experience for prep class students. Inspired by their own successful background as former “Étudiants des Grandes Ecoles” (Top French school graduates), graduating from “Ecole Polytechnique de Paris” – a leading engineering school in Europe – and a few years later as exam reviewers, the founders sought to solve the imperfections in the top school preparatory classes by developing a virtual live tutoring service by the best teachers at affordable prices.
“eDukaty is the tool to democratize academic excellence,” commented Mr. Othmane Akherraz, co-founder of eDukaty. Ms. Meriem Zairi, Managing Director of Seaf Morocco Growth Fund state, “We are very pleased to support the growth of innovative companies that are at the forefront of their industry. Beyond the growth prospects of the company, we are proud to back a project whose mission is to democratize high-level education for a greater equality of opportunities and thus participate in developing high potential human capital in Morocco and more generally.”
The Morocco Growth Fund now holds two portfolio companies. The first investment is in 3Dental, a leading Moroccan HealthTech, specializing in digital dentistry surgical solutions.
About SEAF Morocco Growth Fund
SEAF Morocco Growth Fund (SMGF) invests in seed to early stage innovative companies with high growth potential in Morocco and internationally. SMGF closed its first financing round at the end of 2017 with 180 million MAD (approximately USD 18 million) to invest in equity and quasi-equity. The fund is part of the Innov Invest program managed by the Moroccan Caisse Centrale de Garantie (CCG) and financed by the World Bank to promote entrepreneurship and inclusive economic growth in Morocco. SMGF is managed by SEAF Morocco Capital Partners, a management company approved by the Moroccan Market Authority (AMMC). It is the Moroccan subsidiary of SEAF.
About SEAF
SEAF is a global fund management group headquartered in Washington, DC that invests in emerging markets and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging and frontier markets, seeking both financial returns and impact on economic and social development and providing technical assistance to improve the performance of the enterprises. SEAF has 30 years of experience with 38 funds (with committed capital of more than $1.1 billion) in 28 countries with more than 400 investments and 290 exits. SEAF also supports 13 Centers for Entrepreneurship and Development (CEED) around the world (www.ceed-global.org), including Morocco, providing training, mentoring, professional networks and global access to entrepreneur-run businesses. www.seaf.com