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Thursday, 25 August 2022

Edtech startup OBM lands USD six-figure investment from EdVentures

Student career advising startup OBM Education has secured a six-figure USD investment from EdVentures, according to a company statement (pdf) by the edtech-focused VC. The company will use the funds to develop its new app, Taleb, which will provide career advice to students from the ages of 12 to 19, founder and CEO Omar El Barbary told Enterprise.

This is the second round of funding OBM has received from EdVentures this year, after it snagged an undisclosed sum from the VC in January.

About OBM: Founded in 2020 by Omar El Barbary (LinkedIn) and Ezz El Din Farag (LinkedIn), OBM provides career advising, mentoring, and training programs to middle- and high-schoolers through summits and programs. They have 900k beneficiaries and have hosted 82 programs and events, according to their website.

Where the money’s going: The app, which will be launched early September, will act as a “one-stop shop” for high school students seeking college and career advice, El Barbary tells us. The app will include career and major placement assessments, educational videos, and an online advisory center with advisors from 70 different majors, he explained. It will also include an online shop where students can buy and sell student resources like books and stationery supplies, he added.

The startup is targeting 80k downloads for its app by the end of the year, El Barbary says. Next year, it plans to tap additional financing and expand to Saudi Arabia, he added.

EDVENTURES HAS THREE MORE INVESTMENTS IN THE PIPELINE-

The VC outfit is set to finalize two more investments in the region over the next two months, and will invest in a third firm outside of the MENA region by the end of the year, EdVentures General Manager Maged Harby tells Enterprise. The VC has increased its average ticket size to USD 500k from USD 300k this year and could invest up to USD 1 mn for select projects, he added.

EdVentures portfolio includes online training provider Sprints as well as Akhdar, Career180, OTO Courses, and iSchool. Harby says the firm focuses on “startups that address untapped subsectors in the education industry.”

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

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