Aanaab, a Saudi-based online professional development platform for teachers raises $1.5 million

Jeddah-based edtech Aanaab has raised $1.5 million in its first external funding round, the startup told MENAbytes on Saturday. The round was led by Nour Nouf Knowledge Company and Wamda, with some angel investors also participating in it.

Aanaab offers online courses in Arabic for teachers and educators to help them improve their skills in different areas including self-development, educational strategies, education techniques, and educational tools and techniques.

The startup was founded by Mounira Jamjoom, a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Oxford who served as Assistant Governor of Evaluation, Training and Education Commission (ETEC) of Saudi in 2014 before founding a school development and education advisory company Emkaan Education.

The educators can enroll in the courses available on Aanaab for free but are required to pay a fee upon completion if they would like to receive the certificate. The courses are comprised of video lectures, reading material, discussion boards, tasks and tests, and online meetings, and more. To be eligible to receive certificates, the participants must complete the course and pass it (with at least 60 to 70 percent score).

Aanaab counts Cambridge Assessment International Education, Dar Al-Hekma University, and Rwaq among its content partners. The startup said that over 450 teachers and educators have been awarded Cambridge International certificates after completing different courses on its platform.

It has recently also partnered with the Ministry of Education in Saudi to train over 1,000 teachers with different skills and help them learn about how to integrate technology in education.

Aanaab in addition to offering these courses directly to teachers on its platform also provides schools and education centers with different solutions to help them manage professional development for their teachers and leaders.

It claims to have reached over 37,000 teachers in the Arab world since inception with a 28% course completion rate on its platform which it says is twice the global average of other online education platforms.