The problem
Across the region, school learning meant rote memorisation and whatever teacher happened to be nearby — while Saudi students faced the high-stakes Qudurat and Tahsili national exams that decide university admission, with little personalised preparation available.
How it works
Noon Academy is a social learning platform: students join study groups, compete with peers, and attend live sessions with teachers across core academic subjects. On top of that social core it layers AI-powered learning tools for personalised journeys, plus skills programmes in English language, programming, robotics, and drone technologies. Its 2026 acquisition of Almakhfi folded specialised Qudurat and Tahsili exam-prep content directly into the platform.
Pain points
Memorisation-driven study culture, uneven teacher quality and access, intense standardised-exam pressure, and classrooms that move at one pace for every student.
Business model
Noon monetises learning on the platform — live classes, exam-preparation content, and skills programmes — while extending into physical classrooms and new markets; the Series B funds AI-powered products and personalised experiences aimed at lifting paid engagement.
Challenges
Converting a huge free student base into paying users in a price-sensitive market, maintaining learning quality as AI-generated content scales across subjects, digesting the Almakhfi acquisition, and fending off regional and global edtech competitors moving into AI tutoring.
Funding
- Raised: $41M Series B (Nov 2023), co-led by Wa’ed Ventures and Raed Ventures with STV, Riyadh Valley Company, Endeavor, Sanabil 500, Qyem Development Holding, and Nahlat Alarab Holding (reported as SAR 153M / ~$40.8M in later coverage).
- Use of funds: AI-powered solutions, personalised learning experiences, physical-classroom expansion, and regional/global growth.
Latest — July 2026
On 7 July 2026 Noon Academy acquired Almakhfi — a Saudi Qudurat and Tahsili exam-prep platform that supported 250,000+ students over eight years — to strengthen its AI-powered learning ecosystem and expand its offering for middle and high school students across the Kingdom.