Andela raises $200M Series E led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at $1.5B valuation

On September 29, 2021, Andela announced a $200 million Series E financing round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The round valued the company at $1.5 billion post-money, marking its unicorn status. Participation came from new investor Whale Rock Capital Management and existing backers Generation Investment Management, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Spark Capital. Lydia Jett of SoftBank joined the board.

At the time, Andela described itself as a global network for remote engineering talent, originating from Africa in 2014 and representing engineers from more than 80 countries. The company had placed thousands of engineers with clients including GitHub, Cloudflare and ViacomCBS. Proceeds were allocated to product development for simplifying global hiring, expansion of talent verticals beyond software engineering (e.g. design, data, Salesforce), geographic growth and technology infrastructure.

As of 2026 the company has evolved into an AI-focused talent marketplace and services platform with a network exceeding 150,000 professionals across 135 countries, new leadership under CEO Carrol Chang (appointed 2024), and partnerships centered on AI adoption, assessments and training. No subsequent primary funding rounds have been publicly disclosed at the same scale; later activity appears limited to secondary transactions and smaller later-stage VC.

Andela operates a global talent marketplace that uses AI-powered matching and assessments to connect enterprises with pre-vetted software engineers, data scientists, product designers and other technical professionals, primarily from emerging markets including Africa. Originally founded in Lagos, Nigeria in 2014 with a training and employment model for African developers, the company has pivoted to a marketplace/platform model and fully remote operations. It serves over 600 organizations including GitHub, Mastercard and WPP, with a network spanning more than 135 countries and reported client satisfaction of 98%. The business model is based on matching and placement fees for talent engagements, increasingly emphasizing AI fluency, assessments, upskilling and enterprise AI solution delivery.

As of 2026, Andela positions itself as an AI-native talent and services platform helping enterprises adopt and scale AI. It has partnerships with OpenAI (as a Select Partner), GitHub, AWS, Microsoft and others for training and deployment of AI workflows. The company has expanded beyond software development into data, design, cloud, DevOps and AI-specific roles.