Following a comprehensive selection process, Injini is pleased to announce the ten EdTech companies joining the 2026 Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship. These growth-stage ventures will participate in a specialised six-month acceleration program designed to scale their impact and improve educational outcomes for all learners.
“As we enter our fourth year of this Fellowship, we are intentionally deepening our commitment to equity in education,” says Krista Davidson, Executive Director at Injini. “This cohort represents a powerful shift toward ensuring that no learner is left behind. By supporting entrepreneurs who are specifically addressing accessibility, whether through assistive technologies for learners with disabilities or inclusive platforms for marginalised communities, we are working to build an education ecosystem that serves every child in South Africa and on the continent.”
The 2026 cohort includes a diverse range of offerings, from solutions that support learners with barriers to learning to organisations that provide literacy and numeracy software for special needs learners to low-data platforms designed for rural accessibility. Each Fellow has been selected for their potential for impact and dedication to dismantling barriers to quality education.
The 2026 Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellows are:
-
AdvantageLearn.com: Advantage Learn is a digital platform providing curriculum-aligned lessons and offline-enabled tools to South African schools. By bridging connectivity gaps and resource shortages in rural areas, they ensure learners at risk of being left behind receive high-quality, consistent educational support regardless of their infrastructure. Read more: https://advantagelearn.com
-
Buddy Learning: BuddyAI is a multilingual, WhatsApp-based AI tutor providing personalised support for Grade 1-12 learners. Designed for high accessibility in underserved and rural communities, it offers on-demand explanations and past papers in all official languages, removing barriers of cost and location for historically marginalised students. Read more: https://www.buddylearning.co.
za/
-
Dalza: Dalza is a secure, learner-centred platform that connects parents, educators and professionals to support children with specific educational needs. By maintaining a continuous digital record of a child’s progress and assessments, it ensures that transitions between grades are seamless and that support remains consistent and personalised. Read more: www.dalza.com
-
IncludEDU : provides access to high-quality educational resources and assistive technology frameworks designed to support learners, teachers, and schools in the special needs education sector. Read more: https://includedu.co.za/
-
Inclusive Solutions: Inclusive Solutions is developing South African-led literacy and numeracy software designed specifically for early years and special needs learners. By offering culturally relevant content in all official South African languages and prioritising accessible design for a range of physical, visual and cognitive abilities, they ensure that early foundational learning is inclusive for every child, whether in urban or rural settings. Read more: https://www.
inclusivesolutions.co.za/ -
Khanyisa Developmental Centre: This platform uses video footage to generate evidence-based reports and development templates that outline individualised learner goals. By facilitating the creation of lesson plans based on specific adaptations and SMART goals, it ensures that teaching strategies are precisely tailored to each child’s functional needs. Read more: www.khanyisacentre.co.za
-
Leva Foundation – Tangible: Tangible provides practical, game-based tools that help teachers deliver coding and robotics lessons in any classroom environment. By focusing on offline, hands-on activities that don’t require expensive devices or data, Tangible builds problem-solving skills and teacher confidence, making quality tech education accessible to schools in low-resource and disconnected areas. Read more: tangible.levafoundation.org
-
The Marking App: An AI-powered assessment tool that automatically marks handwritten test papers, providing instant feedback without requiring learner devices. By reducing marking time by up to 80%, the solution combats teacher burnout and allows educators to refocus on instructional time, while delivering data-driven insights to improve learner outcomes. Read more: https://themarkingapp.co.za/
-
ThinkShift: ThinkShift provides an assessment platform that generates verified 21st-century skills profiles alongside traditional academic scores. By creating a cumulative Skills Passport that tracks critical thinking and collaboration, the platform provides learners with a portable record of their competencies to support their transition into further education or the workforce. Read more: www.thinkshift.africa
-
Young Aspiring Thinkers (YAT): YAT is an AI-powered social enterprise providing personalised career guidance and work-readiness programmes to underserved South African youth. By intervening early with AI-driven recommendations and pathwaying, they address structural unemployment and high dropout rates, specifically empowering young women and rural learners to transition into future-ready careers. Read more: https://youngaspiringthinkers.
org/
“Technology is accelerating how education can reach those who have historically been excluded,” added Wariko Waita, Director, Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning at the Mastercard Foundation. “The EdTech Fellowship sits at the intersection of three powerful forces – education system transformation, inclusive technology-enabled solutions and sustainability of Africa’s EdTech entrepreneurship that is responsive to real needs, and capable of reaching millions across South Africa and Africa.”
The 2026 program delivered by Injini will offer various forms of support, including, but not limited to:
-
Mentorship from experts in assistive technology, pedagogical innovation, capital raising, commercial strategy and impact measurement.
-
Global quality assurance via formal pedagogical evaluation and certification from Education Alliance Finland and EdTech Impact.
-
Specialised market insights provided by Injini’s team of education researchers to help navigate the regional landscape.
-
R1,000,000 in equity-free venture funding to accelerate growth.
“Our work with the Mastercard Foundation continues to prove that when we invest in home-grown African innovation, we create sustainable change,” concludes Davidson. “We look forward to seeing how these companies will contribute to the evolution of inclusion in the EdTech space.”
