UK’s Edu-tech Startup Scoodle Eyes Middle East Market, Launches in next 6 Months

The United Kingdom’s first ‘find-a-tutor’ app Scoodle is set to launch in the United Arab Emirates, mainly targeting Arabs who want to enhance their English language skills.

Scoodle, which is backed by the co-founder of Twitter and various ex-Google employees, is currently seeking funding to accommodate its international expansion.

Established in 2017 by British entrepreneur Ismail Jeilani, Scoodle aims to connect students with tutors allowing them to book lessons and get answers to questions they need help with. The application offers teaching across a broad array of skills, ranging from music to languages to economics and is suited for high school, university and higher education. Scoodle doesn’t deduct any fees from tutors but students can pay AED 45-65 ($12.25-17.69) for a monthly subscription that provides unlimited access to resources as well as priority to experts’ answers.

The company now has 25,000 students and 15,000 tutors on its books across 200 countries, and is targeting a similar ratio in Gulf-based countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabia. One of the company’s main missions for this expansion is contributed to the fact that English language can be one of the “stand-out subjects” in the Gulf. Additionally, Jeilani also said English students from the West could want to connect with MENA-based tutors to improve their Arabic language fluency.

“We’re not just looking to grow a student base but also a teaching base. We’re planning to really start ramping things up in the next six months for our Dubai launch. We’re doing testing right now across different subgroups and market, we’ll be able to launch in time for the core exam period, which starts at around February or March next year,” Jeilani tells Arabian Business. The startup also considered the Saudi Arabian market viable with its recent focus on learning and education-based technology, citing the possibility for expansion.

“That’s what keeps us going: we want teachers around the world to be recognised. We want teachers to be on par with the Kardashians in terms of influence. Teachers are incredibly impactful, but they are rarely recognised for it. We’re here to change that,” adds Jeilani, emphasizing on the importance of high-quality education in the GCC region, and the company’s mission to create an international phenomenon through education revolving around trust.