Education Technology · Profile from Education Technology Research Companion
uLesson Education
The Abuja-based K-12 learning company founded in 2019 by Konga founder Sim Shagaya. It sold studio-produced video lessons for West African secondary students on SD cards and in data-light apps, raised what was described at the time as Africa's largest disclosed EdTech round, and then made its biggest bet outside K-12: Miva Open University, a licensed online university launched in 2023.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2019, Abuja, Nigeria
- Founders
- Sim Shagaya (founder and CEO); earlier founder of Konga (e-commerce, 2012) and E-Motion Advertising
- Headquarters
- Abuja, Nigeria (production studios and operations); markets across Anglophone West Africa
- Ownership / structure
- Private, venture-backed. Investors include TLcom Capital, Owl Ventures, Tencent, Nielsen Ventures and Founder Collective. Miva Open University is a uLesson-group private university (exact corporate structure not disclosed)
- Leadership (2026)
- Sim Shagaya, CEO of uLesson and Chancellor of Miva Open University. Other executives not well documented (verify)
- Segment and buyer
- K-12 consumer (parents paying for secondary-school learning and exam prep: WAEC, NECO, JAMB) and, through Miva, higher education (adult learners paying tuition)
- Scale
- uLesson: user and subscriber numbers not reliably disclosed (millions of downloads claimed in marketing; verify). Miva: 532 students at first matriculation (October 2023); 9,000+ students reported later (date unclear, likely 2025; verify). Revenue not disclosed
- Capital raised / valuation / market cap
- ~$25.6m reported in total: seed $3.1m (2019, TLcom), Series A $7.5m (January 2021, Owl Ventures), Series B $15m (December 2021, led by Tencent and Nielsen Ventures). Valuation not disclosed
- Signature moves (including notable failures)
- Offline SD-card video model (2019); seed round (2019); Owl-backed Series A (2021); Africa's then-largest disclosed EdTech round (Series B, 2021); live classes and tutoring (2022, verify); Miva Open University licence (2023). Misses: the K-12 consumer business never published traction matching its funding; post-2022 African funding downturn constrained growth
6 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2019
Founding and Offline Video Model
Launch
2019
Seed Round TLcom
Funding round (seed)
2021
Series A Owl Ventures
Funding round (Series A)
2021
Series B Tencent Nielsen
Funding round (Series B)
2022
Live Classes and Tutoring
Launch / product expansion
2023
Miva Open University License
Launch / diversification