OTO Courses raises six-figure investment
Source: Afrikanheroes
Egypt’s edtech OTO Courses, has raised a six-figure (USD) investment in the form of a bridge round from AUC Angels & Changelabs. The exact size of this deal was however not disclosed.
With the new investment, OTO plans to further develop its platform and win a bigger market share as the traditional educational centers in Egypt that teach the English language remain closed due to the pandemic. The startup had previously raised a seed round from HIMangel and EdVentures in late 2018.
Founded in 2015 by Ahmed El Fadaly, Ahmed Badr & Tarek Nour, OTO Courses, previously known as OTO Englishoffers general and specialized English language courses to individuals and businesses. OTO in it its name stands for one-to-one (tutoring) and that also happens to one of its biggest USP. All the courses on its platform come with dedicated hours of one-to-one live tuition with an instructor.
The startup in a statement said that all the English instructors on its platform are selected carefully and then have to go through training before they start teaching on the platform, “OTO Courses aims to bridge the gap between traditional education and what the market really needs, by providing available and affordable quality education to anyone, anywhere, and anytime.”
It has recently also launched DardshEnglish, a dedicated platform for booking one-to-one practice (voice) sessions with English speakers. The 30-minute sessions are available in the form of bundles with the basic bundle (that comes with five sessions) priced at EGP 99 ($6). The speakers available on the platform can be filtered by their interests and fields to make it easy for users to choose the one that’s relevant to their learning needs.
Karim Samra, the founder of Changelabs, said: “OTO is a perfect example of the kind of innovative thinking and strong leadership Changelabs is looking for in the Egyptian and broader regional startup scene. The company addresses a massive gap in the market, is led by an empathetic and brilliant management team, and has built a differentiated leading-edge technology platform that clearly sets it apart. We’re excited to continue supporting the company in the next phase of its exponential growth.”
OTO Courses claims to have delivered more than 350,000 online hours so far to over 15,000 learners and has over 150 instructors on its platform. The Egyptian startup has also been working with many business clients to help their employees improve their English language skills.
