• Bahrain-based edtech Lumofy has raised $500,000 from Hope Ventures, alongside Saudi angel Investors, in addition to JEO Capital represented by its founding partner, Mashael Fairooz. 
• Founded in 2020 by Ahmed Faraj, Lumofy provides employee training and targeted capacity-building based on individual needs.
• The funding was part of the TV programme “Beban,” which includes entrepreneurs reviewing their businesses to a panel where they receive support based on the panel’s judgement.

Press release:

Hope Ventures, the investment arm of Hope Fund, and investors from the private sector have co-invested in Lumofy, an edtech platform that provides employee training and targeted capacity-building, raising a $500,000 investment round on the first episode of Beban.  

The platform received considerable interest from the panel as a result of its rapid growth within 18 months, securing large regional corporations as clients, such as GPIC, Bahrain National Holdings and Walaa Insurance. The company has also partnered with top international training content provider Open Sesame, in addition to designing its own competency-based learning material which increases the platform's value. 

Commenting on this new partnership, Lumofy founder, Mr Ahmed Faraj, said: “We are on a challenging mission as we strive to provide unique training models to fulfil organisational needs and ensure learning progression. This investment will open doors for Lumofy to develop even further, giving it greater value and creating more opportunities for the platform to reach its full potential.

I am very pleased to have received such immense support from all members of the panel as we move towards achieving our mutual goals of scaling and growing the business towards regional and global success.”

Hope Ventures General Manager, Fajer Alpachachi, reflected on the funds’ first growth investment, saying: “Lumofy uses proprietary technology to solve a challenge that all large corporations face: providing employees with targeted training based on individual needs. The Lumofy team has been able to solve an ongoing problem and have proven the platform's effectiveness through their impressive portfolio of clients. By co-investing in Lumofy alongside the private sector, we trust that we will be able to jointly support in the acceleration of the business.” 

Hope Ventures is joined in their investment by Saudi angel Investors, Mr Abdulrahman Al Jiffry and Mr Yasser Al Ghamdi, in addition to JEO Capital represented by Founding Partner, Ms Mashael Fairooz. 

The first episode of Beban also included pitches by two other technology startups: UniPal, an application that provides special offers and discounts to university students, and Printme Online, a platform that facilitates personalising a wide variety of over 200 products with printed images and designs. All companies that pitched on the first episode of Beban received support from Hope Ventures as they partner with BIBF and tech giant, Huawei, to offer the founders access to knowledge-building content and trips to Huwaei Headquarters (HQ) in China.

A new episode of Beban will air every Wednesday of this month. The next episode, airing on the 9th of February 2022, will include promising businesses from entrepreneurs specializing in the Food and Beverage industry.