After an initial successful crowdfunding campaign that saw it set records as far as an edtech was concerned, HyperionDev has launched a second campaign via CrowdCube with the objective of offering more online coding courses and addressing the digital skills gap.
Said second campaign is going extremely well. In fact, at the time of writing, the campaign is overfunded having achieved 132 percent of its £2 million target (~R40.33 million) with 12 days still to go.
As such, the investments garnered should go a long way to helping HyperionDev reach more people looking to add to or sharpen their digital skills.
“Our aim is to cement our leadership in the EMEA market and to secure partnerships with 10 of the world’s top 50 universities to collaborate on bootcamps across the globe by the end of 2022,” explains HyperionDev CEO, Riaz Moola.
To date, the Meta and Google-backed coding bootcamps edtech has teamed up with the University of South Africa (Unisa) and The University of Edinburgh, along with currently being in talks with over 40 percent of the Russell Group, which comprises of 24 world-leading UK universities, to provide certified online coding bootcamps in future.
Moola also notes that these coding bootcamps hold with it particular importance for those in SA, with the skillset yet to be fully embraced at the secondary and tertiary learning level. As such, they can play a vital role in the immediate future for those wanting to get 4IR-related careers up and running.
“Coding skills, in particular, are growing in demand both locally and globally. In South Africa, following extensive consultations with business and labour, the Department of Home Affairs recently released the new Critical Skills List which is primarily geared towards attracting foreign nationals but also serves as an indicator of the kinds of jobs and skills needed in the country. Among these were Applications Programmer, Software Developer, and Data Scientist – all of which have coding as a prerequisite,” highlights Moola.
“By being part of our crowdfunding campaign and investing from as little as R200 or £10, members of the public have the chance to make a real impact not only on the lives of South Africans, but thousands of people all around the world too. Together, we can plug the digital skills gap,” he concludes.
To find out more about the current crowdfunding campaign, as well as the bootcamps that HyperionDev offers, head here.
