Andela is now a Unicorn with $200 million in Series E led by Softbank

Andela has attained the unicorn status, the 'global talent network' announced a $200 million in Series E financing round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 today

Following the investment which had the participation of new investor Whale Rock and existing investors including Generation Investment Management, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Spark Capital, Andela is now valued at $1.5 billion.

As part of the investment, SoftBank Investment Advisers' Founding Partner and one of the most respected consumer technology investors in the world Lydia Jett will join Andela's Board of Directors.

Jett expressed trust in the investment stating that, 'Andela will become the preferred talent partner for the world’s best companies as remote and hybrid work arrangements become the norm; hiring remote technical talent is one of the top challenges that companies face today.'

Since its launch in 2014, Andela has placed many engineers with leading technology companies including Github, Cloudflare and ViacomCBS — the Andela network today represents engineers from more than 80 countries and six continents.

Responding to the investment, Jeremy Johnson, CEO and co-founder of Andela said, 'now that the world has come to embrace remote work, Andela has become the obvious choice for companies because we can find better talent, faster'

Johnson further called on talented engineers to embrace the possibilities that the company provides.

With a successful placement rate of 96%, Andela has mastered the ability to evaluate the technical skills and soft skills of engineers to match them to the teams they’ll be most successful in. With the new capital, the company will invest in developing products to simplify global hiring and make engineers’ lives easier.

Meanwhile, Agnes Muthoni, Director of the Andela Learning Community at Andela that this new round of funding enables Andela to strengthen our already extensive network of incredible talent in Africa and across the world, as we systematically connect the best software engineers with global opportunities.

'Being backed by a diverse group of renowned and experienced investors is a testament to the growing importance of remote work, and how Andela is at the forefront of helping companies scale their engineering teams at a rapid pace', she said

Andela intends to continue with the expansion of its talent offering beyond software development to include new verticals such as design and data after launching Salesforce development earlier this year.

Recall that, in August, Softbank led the $400 million series C round in OPay, the agency banking company, after a Shyft Power Solutions deal in April. This Andela investment is the third publicly disclosed deal that the Japanese firm has made Nigerian-founded company.