Shikho, a Bangladeshi EdTech startup with a mission to democratize access to quality education, has acquired Mainly Coding, a platform that focuses on the practical aspects of learning how to code, in an all-cash deal.
The deal marks Shikho’s second acquisition in the last two months. The Dhaka-based company previously acquired the country’s leading online professional courses platform Bohubrihi in November 2021 to expand its offerings.
Mainly Coding primarily features an online code editor that allows students to put into practice what they have learned, without the hassle of a setup. Learners can use their phones or laptops and start programming in a variety of languages to test their ability. It also features programming e-books and a problem-solving module – democratizing access to resources in Bengali language.
Shahir Chowdhury, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of Shikho, said,
“We’ve been busy developing several unannounced products as we continue to enrich the most advanced and comprehensive, hyper-localized digital learning ecosystem in Bangladesh. The Mainly Coding platform, therefore, helps accelerate our strategy and immediately delivers more value for our learners.”
Founded in 2019, Shikho is on a mission to revolutionize the way Bangladesh learns today and democratize access to a high-quality education. It allows students to learn at their own pace, test themselves, and get ahead with its expert teachers anytime and anywhere.
Shikho’s learning app also includes features such as in-app testing, automated analysis and reporting of results, a recommendation engine that prompts students to watch videos based on their testing performance, and a variety of gamification features that allow students to earn points and badges as they progress through their syllabus.
Shikho has so far raised $1.6 million of funding from several global venture capital firms. It last raised $1.3 million in its seed funding round led by New York-based early-stage venture capital firm Anchorless Bangladesh and LearnStart, the seed fund of Learn Capital, in July 2021. Prior to that, the company had raised $175,000 in pre-seed funding in December 2020 from LearnStart, and Zubair Siddiky and Ambareen Reza, the Co-founders and Managing Directors of FoodPanda Bangladesh. The company is reportedly planning to announce yet another significant funding round shortly.
