Education startup TEKY Alpha has raised US$5 million from Singaporean investment firm Sweef Capital to expand its operations.

TEKY plans to expand its educational services at public schools and after-school programmes for children aged five to 18, Sweef Capital said in a statement.

The startup, founded by Dao Lan Huong in 2016, delivers science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics (STEAM) education.

It operates 16 STEAM coaching academies in five cities and partners with more than 45 schools to deliver STEAM courses to more than 25,000 children.

“I’m excited about our expansion plan to open more STEAM centers across the country in the next two years and the prospects of a partnership with public schools to integrate the STEAM curriculum and increase accessibility,” Huong said.

The International Labour Organization has forecast that 137 million workers in Southeast Asia, or a fifth of the region’s population, will lose their jobs because of automation, robots and artificial intelligence in the next two decades.

Workers around the world are likely to need to switch jobs and learn new skills, but many of the new jobs created by 2030 by technology would not have existed before.

Vietnamese education must keep pace with these big shifts so that the future workforce could seize the opportunities of the industry 4.0 era, Huong said.

This is Sweef Capital’s first investment from its Southeast Asia Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund.

Existing investor Hong Kong-based Strategic Year Holdings also participated in the round.

VnExpress