Akadasia, an education technology startup that helps teachers upskill, has raised $550,000 in a seed round led by Singapore accelerator EduSpaze, Spiegels Future Family Fund, and former Meta director Andrew Hwang.
The round was also backed by 6th Horizon, SuperCharger Ventures, and some angel investors.
With the recent fundraise, the Singapore-based company plans to fuel its growth in new markets like Indonesia, Vietnam, and India plus develop a new service called “certifyED,” which will allow education institutions to digitize their certification systems on the blockchain.
Founded in 2019 by Neelesh Bhatia, Akadasia offers FREEJOO, a digital ecosystem to empower educators worldwide. It has three core features, skillEd, designEd and collabEd, which allow educators to access pedagogy-based professional development courses to upskill their teaching, use digital tools to design engaging lessons for their students or courses for fellow educators, as well as collaborate and network with one another respectively.
FREEJOO works on a freemium model and at just US$20 per year, educators are able to unlock access to the full range of professional development content designed by global experts.
The startup claims that about 160,000 teachers in 36 countries use its services, with 90% of its business generated from business-to-business and business-to-government partners.
Akadasia is committed to diversity and inclusion, offering a respectful work environment free from discrimination and harassment. The platform is also committed to employing and promoting individuals based on their merits, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, etc.
The latest funding of Akadasia comes after its participation in the third cohort of EduSpaze, which saw eight companies selected from 230 applicants across 31 countries.
