Andela, once an African tech giant is now valued at $1.5 billion following a $200 million Series E round led by SoftBank’s Softbank Vision Fund 2. The software development company is now smiling after this huge investment push.
After closing this Series E round, Andela has raised a total of $381 million. The company that once had a stronghold in Africa mainly in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, and Rwanda had the last valuation of $700 million. The series D in 2019 came when the company raised $100 million.
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A recent change in strategy led Andela to expand beyond Africa to build remote engineering teams. Expanding into new regions allowed Andela clients to tap into regional expertise and nuances that could support their international growth. Andela had a proven track record of connecting remote engineers with opportunities from businesses across the globe and is positioned to support global talent for businesses worldwide. With engineers from 37 countries across five continents, Andela clients have access to a truly global network of talented engineers. The action coincided with Andela’s fully remote policy in a bid to tap into a talent pool of over 500,000 engineers in the coming years.
As part of the investment, Lydia Jett, founding partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, will join Andela’s board. In a written statement, Jett said that “hiring remote technical talent is one of the top challenges that companies face today, and we believe Andela will become the preferred talent partner for the world’s best companies as remote and hybrid work arrangements become the norm.”
In June 2020, the effects of COVID-19 plus operational costs forced the software engineering company to go fully remote. This came weeks after announcing plans to go 100% remote and closing off its offices in Africa and also selling off its equipment.
To Johnson, Andela’s CEO, working with SoftBank means more acceleration of what the company is doing now, especially as the world has become more comfortable with remote work. Andela evaluates the technical and soft skills of engineers and matches them with the teams that most closely fit.
“Remote is why Andela has worked in the first place,” he added. “In some ways, it is also a stamp of approval that top tech companies are looking for remote approaches to building engineering teams and sourcing talent. We hear from SoftBank, and others, that finding tech talent is tough. Andela becomes pushing the easy button on all of that.”
In September 2019, Andela carried out its first lay-offs–saying goodbye to over 400 junior software developers in Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria as the company made big changes from within –in a new strategic move. The technology outsourcing company first launched in Nigeria over six years ago, its business model was to–train local new-level developers to be able to compete on a global market.
Andela has over 300 employees and will use the new capital to add to that workforce, particularly in product, engineering, and growth, Johnson said. In addition, the company is investing in growth, continued expansion of technology and product development and M&A.
