Talent Nation has raised an undisclosed Pre-Seed round co-led by Enza Capital and LocalGlobe. The startup trains, certifies, and places African AI engineers with businesses worldwide. Its founders aim to train one million engineers over the next decade.
Funding and early traction
Future Africa, Kaleo Ventures, Ajim Capital, Solving.org, and Accelerate Africa also participated. The company's Learn2Earn academy has already received more than 63,000 applications over 18 months. It assessed over 32,000 candidates and enrolled about 1,400 fellows.
Company context
Aboyeji serves as executive chairman and previously co-founded Andela, Flutterwave, and Moove. Valkin, the chief executive, co-founded London-based 01 Founders. Talent Nation already lists IHS Towers among its clients.
How the academy works
The Learn2Earn academy charges no upfront tuition. Applicants take an online assessment, followed by in-person trials that test technical skill, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Experienced candidates can move directly to client work, while others enter three-, six-, or 12-month training programs.
The company plans to use revenue from client engagements to fund training for more engineers. Once employed, graduates contribute toward future cohorts. Talent Nation will need to expand its academy and deployment network to reach the one million target.
Read more: semafor.com