NewYork –based Andela, a talent accelerator has received an undisclosed amount of funding from 7 investors to train web developers from Africa.
Basically, Andela, is a tech startup that wants to eliminate the global skills gap and works by identifying and training brilliant young people in developing countries to serve as full-time computer programmers in global companies.
“The breadth of support we are receiving from so many seasoned investors is a testament to the value we can bring our partners, which include U.S. and European technology and service companies,” said Andela co-founder and CEO Jeremy Johnson,
“Andela recognizes that while aptitude is evenly distributed, opportunity is not. With the fastest growing and youngest population in the world, Africa is the largest market of untapped talent. Our goal is to tap into this brilliance to bring the world’s brightest minds to firms looking for quality developers.”
Andela developers specialize in the MEAN stack (Mongo.db, Express, Angular, and Node.js) of JavaScript based technologies. Partners can expect a coder who is both technically adept and offers timely responses during regular business hours.
Additionally, the company offers industry-leading certification course and 24/7 support for employers looking to bolster their technical teams.
The startup’s inaugural class of developers is based in Lagos, Nigeria, where 5,200 applicants competed for the first 28 slots, an acceptance rate of .53%, making the program roughly ten times more selective than Harvard.
The invetors behind Andela include Steve Case, Omidyar Network, Founder Collective, Rothenberg Ventures, Learn Capital, Melo7 Tech Partners, and Chris Hughes. The size of the round is undisclosed.
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