KAINO Africa, a Ugandan EdTech startup, has today launched its Minimum Viable Product - MVP at an event in Kampala.
Alfred Opio, the CEO, informed me that they are now going into private beta testing in some schools. "We have four schools which offered to run this private beta; Two in the urban and two schools in the rural," Alfred said.
Founded in January 2018, KAINO is developing a school management system and a content marketplace.
The startup states on their website that they "empower teachers by aggregating academic content." This includes; lesson guides, assessment tests, learner’s workbooks, digital textbooks and more.
According to Alfred, KAINO Africa outsources all hardware requirements. Their only focus is the software and design. The tabs run on Android, though customed to KAINO's platform.
Currently, they are in talks with 'one of the leading telecoms' in Uganda to enter into a partnership. This will see the telecom co-brand KAINO's tabs. The telecom will also whitelist the KAINO app, allowing users access without paying for internet.
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Beyond the telecoms, they have also secured a partnership with a publisher called Sipro. Plus, they are also in talks with the association of Ugandan publishers for a partnership.
Their business model actually requires them to have such partnerships because it would be expensive to carry out content creation and distribution of the tabs. Yet, they are also reducing their margins given that they are running a revenue share model.
When it comes to competition, the market also has players like Mixa Kids and Edutab by TOD Idea. Both of these are looking at empowering the children with tablets that have content ranging from educational to entertainment.
Alfred also informed me that they have managed to raise an angel round to date but wasn't willing to disclose the details. Though, he also added that they are currently looking to raise a Seed round of $50,000. This would propel them to 50 schools across the country.