Abwaab just closed its pre-seed funding round raiding $2.4 million for its online learning platform. The startup plans to use this funding to develop its product and grow its team. 

Kicked off by Adam Tech Ventures, the investment is considered one of the largest pre-seed rounds in the region. Endure Capital also joined, along with Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund (“ISSF”), and a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.

Based in Amman, Abwaab was founded in September 2019 by Hamdi Tabbaa and Hussein Alsarabi. The latter used to be director of technology and product development at Mawdoo3.com, while Alsarabi is the former General Manager of Uber for the GCC and Levant. Abwaab is on a mission to improve the out-of-school learning experience for Arabic-speaking youth. Their vision is made possible by making high-quality education accessible to every student regardless of socioeconomic background.

“There is a clear lack of online educational resources for young people in MENA who are in their prime learning age (0-24) despite the fact that they currently make up half of the region’s population and rank one of the lowest on academic performance. By providing a high-quality, easily-accessible and fun learning experience, we believe that our product will have a powerful impact on generations to come.”

Hamdi Tabbaa, Co-founder, CEO, Abwaab

Launched in early February 2020, Abwaab’s website offers a comprehensive and engaging online learning experience for secondary school students. Its programs are tailored to specific markets in the region.

From video lessons taught by experienced teachers to assessment and performance-tracking features, students get the unique opportunity to learn at their own pace. With a freemium subscription model, Abwaab has begun rolling out its content, starting with STEM subjects tailored to the Jordanian market and has produced nearly 1,000 videos to date.

“Not only are we planning on tailoring the learning experience on the country level, but also on the individual level. We aim to harness the power of AI to provide each and every student a unique and personalized learning journey. I believe that AI will be an instrumental driver of change in edtech and we want to be at the forefront of this.”

Hussein Alsarabi, Co-founder, CTO, Abwaab. 

Despite being the 4th largest language globally, Arabic only accounts for 3% of content online. In the last few years, MENA has experienced a boom in edtech startups with many attempting to take on the after-school tutoring industry – which is worth $20 billion.