Englease.com, a UAE-based English teaching platform, raised $3.4 million in a funding round backed by key investors in Silicon Valley, including US-based LearnCapital and LearnStart, as well as regional players like BY Venture, COTU, Dubai Angel Investors, Hambro Perks Oryx Fund, Wamda, and Saudi/US-based 500 Global.

The digital platform offers easy access to live group classes or tutors with a cost-efficient subscription model. Students can pay a one-time fee to access unlimited group classes, or pay a yearly rate for 1-on-1 tutoring. These fees rival the monthly cost of offline English as a Second Language schools.

“English proficiency is the number one driver of employability in the MENA region, yet the region has the world’s lowest English proficiency rate and has had the world’s highest youth unemployment rate, according to the World Bank, 25 years running," Omar Chihane, founder of Englease.com, says. "The only way to tackle this very real problem was to build a highly impactful solution that is both scalable and affordable.”

The edtech startup plans to use its funds to further expand its reach, with a goal of educating one million students.