The Region's First EdTech VC Just Opened Up in Egypt

Egypt has been seeing a boom in EdTech startups in the past few months, where not only a flurry of educational startups hustling in the field - from tutoring platforms Orcas and Tutorama, to online educational pioneers such as Nafham, to career-orientation courses given by iSpark and Career 180 - but also conferences reshaping the future of education. In the past month only, the EduVation Summit took the Nile University by storm, while the Traverse conference gathered thousands of students to get inspired by workshops and talks.  

Now, as the sector's key players continue to grow, the MENA's first EdTech-focused Venture Capital was just launched. Powered by Nahdet Misr Publishing Group, Ed.Ventures was officially launched this week, with the presence of Egypt's Minister of Higher Education, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, along with Tarek Shawki, Minister of Education, Tarek Qabil, Minister of Industry and Trade, and Minister of Supply Ali Moselhy.

Having partnered with the Academy of Scientific Research & Technology (ASRT) and USAID’s Strengthening Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED) project, the newly launched VC incubates and invests in startups specialised in education and learning projects, in addition to providing them with technical support, expertise, and investment to make these projects a success.

According to the World Economic Forum's 2017-2018 report, Egypt is ranked 100th among 137 countries in the competitiveness of education, a ranking that crystallises the deteriorating state of education, only exacerbated by skyrocketing population growth and poor infrastructure. Setting off to bring together all parties working in education, in a mission to further develop the educational system in Egypt and the Arab world, the VC is leveraging on the power of technology and innovative entrepreneurs to positively impact the economy - according to Ed.Ventures, the EdTech field is expected to grow by 17 percent - representing a turnover of capital worth $525 billion.