Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Mena reaches for tech to upgrade results in education

Taaleem has doubled its investment in edtech over the past five years but says it is selective with its use Taaleem
Taaleem has doubled its investment in edtech over the past five years but says it is selective with its use
  • Rising demand for learning technologies 
  • Egypt and Saudi produce bulk of startups 
  • Market to grow 13% per year by 2030

Demand for education technology, or edtech, is growing in the Middle East and North Africa as countries seek to bolster learning to drive economic growth. 

However, experts warned against excessive use of technology in classrooms, saying it could affect the attainment of basic skills such as reading and writing. 

Examples of edtech include interactive whiteboards, digital textbooks, immersive educational apps and teacher training programmes. Taaleem, a UAE-based schools operator, told AGBI it has doubled its investment in edtech over the past five years and now uses 3,000 platforms across 32 schools. 



“I have sessions with different tech providers almost constantly,” said Glen Radojkovich, Taaleem’s deputy director of education. “There has been an absolute mushrooming of investment in the sector.”

Nahdet Misr, an Egyptian education provider, said that since 2017 it has either invested in or incubated 76 edtech startups through EdVentures, its venture capital arm, and has a pipeline of 30 more. 

Dalia Ibrahim, chief executive of Nahdet Misr Publishing House and founding chief executive of EdVentures, said: “The sector has gained significance in Mena, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, and we expect the pace of growth to continue.”

The return on investment in EdVentures’ portfolio companies is 6.2 times the initial investment, Ibrahim said. 

Educational attainment among Mena schoolchildren sits below global norms, with countries struggling to reach average scores in three major assessments, PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS, over the past decade. 

Among the issues are discrepancies in the quality of public and private education in the UAE and stark regional variations across Saudi Arabia and Egypt. 

Countries accelerated their use of remote learning in 2020, seeking solutions to poor attainment and prompted further by Covid lockdowns, resulting in a surge in edtech startups and venture capital. 

Attainment rankings

  • Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) measures reading achievement at year five level (ages 9-10) in 57 countries
  • Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is the OECD’s study of 15-year-olds’ abilities in reading, maths and science 
  • Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) tests are taken every four years by two cohorts of students, year five and year nine, from 60 countries

The sum invested in Mena edtech startups rose from $2 million in 2017 to $21 million by the end of 2019, according to Magnitt, a research company based in Dubai. Since then, funding has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 54 percent to more than $50 million in 2021, double the sum spent the previous year. The number of edtech startups has risen threefold, from 270 in 2017 to 800. 

The Middle East edtech market was valued at $4 billion in 2022 and is projected by UnivDatos Market Insights, a market research company based in India, to grow at a 13.8 percent CAGR to 2030. 

Schools and pupils are “embracing the benefits and convenience of digital platforms”, Ibrahim said: “Edtech complements traditional face-to-face classroom education by providing students with diverse, interactive and tailored learning.”

For example, she said, artificial intelligence enabled students to have a personalised learning journey, while augmented and virtual reality can enhance students’ understanding of complex subjects, particularly sciences.

Architecture, Building, School Kitmek, based in Dubai, produces a multilingual app for primary schoolchildrenKitmek
Kitmek, based in Dubai, produces a multilingual app for primary schoolchildren

However, while edtech is viewed as an essential tool in higher education, its value for school-age learners is less clear, said Sally Jeffery, Middle East education and skills lead at PwC. 

“The pendulum of opinion has swung from enthusiastic [amid Covid necessity] to questionable, as there are concerns about impact on focus and wellbeing,” she said.

Last July, a Unesco report warned of the risks of using technology in schools, including gaps in vital skills acquisition and data leaks. 

Taaleem is increasingly selective in its use of technology, Radojkovich said. “If it’s going to improve education provision, it’s fantastic. If the student’s EQ [emotional intelligence] is going to be lesser, or their ability to focus, read, write or develop streams of thought independently is going to be weakened, we need to tread very carefully.” 

Mena edtech companies

  • Egypt’s Akhdar – publishes summaries of Arabic audiobooks; raised an undisclosed six-figure round from Saudi Arabia VC, Value Maker Studio in November
  • Egypt’s Crafty Workshop – supports handicrafts through digital training platform; raised $400,000 from EdVentures in October 
  • Jordan’s Abwaab – online content provider for secondary schools. Has raised a total of $27.5 million from investors including Beco Capital
  • Saudi Arabia’s iStoria – specialises in English language learning; secured $1.3 million in seed funding round in January
  • Saudi Arabia’s Noon – offers students live, interactive tutoring with ‘gaming’ features; closed $41m Series B round in November
  • Saudi Arabia’s YaSchools – manages educational ecosystem for teachers, parents and students; raised $600,000 from seed investors in August
  • UAE’s Kitmek – immersive multilingual app for primary schoolchildren  

Latest articles

Opec predicts global crude demand will rise by around 2 million barrels a day in both 2024 and 2025

Opec maintains stance on oil demand predictions

Opec has kept its global oil demand prediction unchanged for this year as the global economy showed resilience, surpassing initial projections in some instances. The oil producers block said in its monthly report on Tuesday that it believed global crude demand would increase by 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024 and by 1.8 […]

Dnata staff load cargo into a plane at Cointrin Airport in Geneva. The company's expansion into Rome will need a €20 million investment

Dnata CEO confident of victory in Rome airport case

The Group CEO of Dnata, the Dubai-based global air and travel services provider, is “very confident” the company will soon begin operations in Rome. “We’re certainly planning to be operating this year,” Steve Allen told AGBI at a media event on Tuesday, referring to an appeal ruling on the decision to award ground-handling contracts due […]

Prime minister of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said GCC states need to coordinate their efforts in sectors such as AI

Qatar calls for greater GCC cooperation as it diversifies economy

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund will continue a policy of diversification, investing in Central Asia and Africa, but Gulf countries need to do more to unify their economic growth plans to face rising geopolitical risks, Qatar’s prime minister said on Tuesday.  “Our focus in terms of the sovereign wealth fund and investment continues following the strategy […]

Workers at a semiconductor plant in the Netherlands. Qatar's investment in France's Ardian comes as global demand for semiconductor chips is surging

QIA invests in French semiconductor fund Ardian

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has announced plans to make an anchor investment in Ardian Semiconductor, a new entity established by the French private equity firm Ardian.  The move underscores the Gulf state’s bet on the crucial role of semiconductors in powering digital and green transformations in key areas such as […]