Andela, an engineering talent outsourcing company, has secured Ksh. 22 billion ($200 million) at a Ksh. 166 billion ($1.5 billion) valuation in a Series E funding round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2.
This funding round brings the total venture funding raised by Andela to Ksh. 42 billion ($380 million). The round also included Whale Rock, Generation Investment Management, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Spark Capital.
Following the announcement, Lydia Jett, Founding Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers will join Andela’s Board of Directors.
Launched in Nigeria in 2014, Andela started as an African-focused software developer training and outsourcing company. The company then grew to become a premier source for talented, well-rounded developers in Africa thanks to its curriculum and developer training methodology. Two years after it launched the company got a Ksh. 2.6 billion ($24 million) infusion, led by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who followed up with a visit.
In July 2020, Andela changed its model, closing its physical offices in Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda to become a fully remote company. Almost a year later, the company expanded its talent pool to welcome Latin and South American developers.
Today, the company boasts of a network of engineers from more than 80 countries and six continents. Through Andela, thousands of engineers have been placed with leading technology companies including Github, Cloudflare and ViacomCBS.
“Andela has always been the high-quality option for those building remote engineering teams. Now that the world has come to embrace remote work, Andela has become the obvious choice for companies because we can find better talent, faster. If you are a talented engineer, Andela opens up a world of possibilities for you, no matter where you are based,” said Jeremy Johnson, CEO and co-founder of Andela.
“Hiring remote technical talent is one of the top challenges that companies face today. We believe Andela will become the preferred talent partner for the world’s best companies as remote and hybrid work arrangements become the norm,” Lydia Jett said.