Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), the philanthropic investment vehicle of Facebook CEO, Mark Zukerberg has provided a $24m seed fund to Andela, a Nigerian tech company based in Lagos.
Aside Zukerberg participating in Andela are GV (Formely Google Venture) as well as Andela’s existing investors including Spark Capital, Omidyar Network, Learn capital and Africa based CRE ventures.
According to Jeremy Johnson, Andela’s CEO and co-founder, “the round represents a huge vote of confidence from some of the most respected names in technology. Not only is it a vote for Andela, though, it’s also recognition of the calibre of software developers and human beings that make up the Andela Fellowship.”
He says that the company is humbled to partner with folks who have helped drive some of the most impactful innovation in the history of tech, and grateful to have the financial support to continue building the movement that is Andela.
“In the past two years, Andela has evolved from a crazy idea into an elite engineering organization of nearly 300 people spanning three continents. Today, Andela developers are building products for Google, Facebook and IBM, as well as dozens of fast growing venture-backed startups. In their spare time, they’re driving the growth of local and global tech ecosystems,” Johnson adds.
Andela was founded by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Jeremy Johnson with bases in Lagos, Nigeria and Nairobi Kenya. The company identifies high-potential developers on the African continent, shape them into world-class technical leaders, and pair them with companies as full-time, distributed team members.
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