Cairo-based edtech startup Colnn has raised $100,000 from EdVentures, the VC arm of Egypt’s leading publisher Nahder Misr, the startup announced earlier this week. EdVentures also runs an accelerator program for education startups in Egypt.
Founded in 2015 by Tamer Samir, Colnn, per statement, is a cloud-based school management system that comes with a mobile app, enabling schools to manage their operations, processes, activities, and communication between parents, teachers, and students. The mobile app by Colnn connects teachers and parents allowing parents to keep an eye on their children’s performance and daily activities.
According to Colnn’s website, the students also get an online account that enables them to access announcements, attendance, homework, online quizzes, and their time table.
It’s not clear if Colnn has a per-student subscription model for schools (which is what’s used by a large number of similar SaaS startups) or it charges the school a monthly subscription fee regardless of the number of students they have.
The startup, according to the statement, works with each school to customize its solutions and software according to their requirements (as long customization requirements meet their strategy).
We’re not sure about the extent of customization but it would be safe to assume that it includes minor tweaks as anything major normally requires a lot of resources and the cost of those changes and upgrades normally outweigh the benefits unless its a very big client.
Tamer Samir, founder and CEO of Colnn, commenting on the investment, said, “Becoming a part of EdVentures will definitely support our expansion plans. Nahdet Misr’s over 80 years of experience in the education sector and its local and international network will help us enter new markets.”
Dalia Ibrahim, the Founder of EdVentures and the CEO of Nahdet Misr Publishing House, added, “We were keen to add Colnn to our portfolio of companies as it perfectly aligns with our objective of developing and offering new and innovative educational solutions that further strengthen the educational sector in our country.”
Last year, a similar Dubai-based startup, ReportCard also raised pre-seed investment.