Kenya's Edtech Startup Kidato Receives $125,000 From Y Combinator
Summary
Kidato, a Nairobi-based online school for K-12 kids with a vision to provide a high-quality, affordable education to the growing middle class in Africa has been accepted into YC Winter 2021 Batch.Kidato will receive $125,000 funding to shape the face of education for 100,000+ students in Kenya and across the continent by exploring learning that is aligned to preparing children for real-life experiences and not just exams.We are thrilled to announce our acceptance and funding by Y Combinator in the Winter 2021 batch, announced Kidato, adding it firmly believes the future of Africa is dependent on what kids are being taught in this generation.Kidato, Swahili for a class, grade or form, is a Nailab-incubated company and is the second Nailab-company to join the prestigious program after Kuhustle. Nailab was co-founded by Sam Gichuru, who is the brains behind both Kuhustle and Kidato.Parents in Africa face either public schools with student-teacher ratios as high as 50:1 or private schools with tuition fees as high as $7500 per year, per child. Kidato classes have student-teacher ratios of 5:1 and teach the same rigorous international curriculum as other private schools but at a fraction of the price, announced the company.In its second semester, Kidato has enrolled more than 30 students into its learning-from-home program as a replacement for brick-and-mortar schools. The platform also offers social activities like sports and educational field trips.Y Combinator has helped us shape our mission, introduced us to an amazing community of founders globally and encouraged us to build a product that our parents and students want and love, announced Kidato. YC has invested in nearly 3,000 companies including Airbnb, DoorDash, Stripe, Instacart, Dropbox, and Coinbase.