Almentor Secures $6.5M Series B Funding - MENA E-Learning

The Growing Demand for Arabic Online Learning

Globally, over 400 million individuals speak Arabic, and this figure continues to rise. Even for native speakers, the Arabic language presents considerable challenges. Duolingo reports that fluency in Egyptian Arabic doesn't guarantee comprehension of Yemeni Arabic, due to significant dialectal variations.

Despite the diversity of dialects, Arabic speakers often struggle to locate specialized content relevant to their daily lives. This gap in accessible resources prompted the creation of a dedicated learning platform.

Almentor.net: Bridging the Content Gap

Founded in 2016 by Dr. Ihab Fikry and Ibrahim Kamel, Almentor.net is an online video learning platform designed to address the shortage of Arabic-language learning materials. The platform collaborates with numerous leaders, educators, and specialists to offer courses and talks spanning diverse fields.

These fields include health, humanities, technology, entrepreneurship, business management, lifestyle, drama, sports, corporate communication, and digital media. Almentor aims to provide comprehensive educational resources for Arabic speakers.

Funding and Expansion

Almentor secured a $3.5 million seed round in 2016. Subsequently, two years ago, the company raised $4.5 million in Series A funding, spearheaded by Egypt’s Sawari Ventures.

With this latest Series B investment, the Dubai-based edtech company has amassed a total of $14.5 million in funding. The financing round was led by San Francisco and Paris-based VC firm Partech, with participation from Sawari Ventures, Egypt Ventures, and Sango Capital.

Empowering Arab Learners

Almentor’s core mission is to equip Arab learners with the skills necessary for professional and personal advancement. The platform asserts that it possesses the largest continuous learning library in the region, and one of the most extensive globally.

With offices in Dubai, Cairo, and Saudi Arabia, Almentor develops its video content internally, offering it in both Arabic and English. This dual-language approach broadens accessibility and caters to a wider audience.

Vision and Objectives

“Our understanding is that over 90% of the more than 100 million people in our region cannot effectively learn in any language other than Arabic,” stated Fikry in an interview with TechCrunch. “Therefore, we aimed to create a state-of-the-art platform that would transform people’s perspectives and encourage focused learning.”

Successfully attracting both investors and customers presents a challenge for novel products like Almentor. According to CEO Fikry, a primary hurdle was demonstrating to the investment community in the MENA region the potential of Almentor’s new video e-learning industry.

A Multifaceted Business Model

Almentor’s business operates at the convergence of education, media, and technology. Its offerings are structured into three distinct components: a direct-to-consumer (B2C) flagship product, a white-label business-to-business (B2B) model for large corporations, and a ‘special project’ component for governmental organizations.

The B2C product allows users to purchase courses for a one-time fee of $20-$30, granting them lifetime access. Almentor plans to introduce a subscription-based model in June, providing unlimited access to its library of 12,000 videos for a monthly fee to its over 1 million registered users.

The B2B model involves Almentor providing companies with access to its content library for employee training and customization. Since 2016, Almentor has completed 78 such partnerships.

The ‘special project’ model focuses on collaborations with government entities. For example, Almentor partnered with the Egyptian government to enhance skills within the country’s film industry. The company has completed 11 similar projects since its inception.

Looking Ahead

Almentor reports having facilitated over 2 million learning experiences across all its models. The new investment will be used to enhance content production, improve quality, and raise awareness about the platform’s value within the MENA region.

“We now lead the continuous video learning industry in the Arab region, and we have a responsibility that extends beyond our ambitions for Almentor,” Fikry emphasized. “Our responsibility is to continually improve the industry in the Arab region, which can only be achieved by earning the trust of Arab learners in the value, professionalism, and objectivity of the platform’s content, and aligning with global learning trends.”

Partech general partner Cyril Collon commented on the investment: “We have been consistently impressed by Ihab and Ibrahim, two exceptional entrepreneurs driven by a clear mission who have been executing a bold vision since 2016. They have established themselves as the leading Arabic self-learning content provider in the Middle East and Africa.”

Collon added, “We look forward to supporting the company as it expands to serve the 430 million Arabic-speaking population and broaden access to cutting-edge, on-demand personal learning and development opportunities.”