University Ventures, CDC Group and Savannah Fund have injected $12m into Unicaf to help it establish learning centres across several African cities.
Unicaf, a Malawi-based education services provider, today attracted $12m in capital from investors including higher education-focused investment firm University Ventures and CDC Group, the UK government-owned development finance institution.
Early-stage venture capital firm Savannah Fund also contributed cash to the round.
Founded in 2012, Unicaf aims to deliver higher education to Africa-based professionals by partnering western universities, offering their degrees for fees reduced by approximately 20%. The company also offers its own locally accredited degrees.
Unicaf operates largely online and serves 8,000 students, with a goal of 60,000 students by the end of 2020.
The investment will go towards the establishment of higher education learning centres across several African cities as well as completing a university campus in Malawi.
David Easton, investment manager at CDC Group, said: “Unicaf has the potential to transform African higher education, offering international quality degrees at a price and flexibility not currently seen in sub-Saharan Africa.
“CDC’s investment will help Unicaf create over 1,000 new jobs by building a network of learning centres and university campuses across African cities, including in the continent’s hardest to reach countries.”
Daniel Pianko, founding managing director at University Ventures, said: “Nicos Nicolaou is an incredible entrepreneur committed to harnessing the power of world class degree programs at prices that working professionals on the African continent can afford.”
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site Global Government Venturing.
