Jara

What Jara does

Jara is a non-profit social enterprise founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco that develops and deploys the Jara Unit, a solar and crank-powered personal education device designed to deliver offline, curriculum-aligned educational content to K-12 children (aged 10-13) in under-resourced, low-internet, and low-electricity communities. The device is IoT-enabled, allowing remote content updates and data collection without requiring local internet infrastructure, and is built to be durable, waterproof, and dust-proof for humanitarian and disaster-affected deployment contexts. Content scope spans national curriculum subjects (maths, languages, sciences), life-skills (digital literacy, financial literacy, masonry, electronics repair), and psychosocial coping material for children displaced by natural disasters.

Jara does not sell direct to end users. Its go-to-market operates through three enterprise channels: government ministries of education (curriculum alignment and bulk deployment), NGOs (field implementation), and corporate partners (co-development and funding). Active deployments are in Nepal (post-2015 earthquake recovery context) and Nigeria (Ogun State, pandemic-driven school closure response), with a stated pipeline of 20+ additional countries. Revenue is generated through hardware provision to implementing partners supplemented by donations and grant/prize capital from sources including the Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge ($75K), Cisco Live Grand Prize ($20K), and 1850 Bold Pioneers Challenge ($5K). Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The founding team and executive bench carry notable pedigree from Apple, Stanford, Argo AI, Jaunt VR, Intel, Cisco, and Samsung, with eight granted patents held by Chief Engineering Architect Koji Gardiner.

Name

Jara

Legal name

Jara

Website

https://joinjara.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Jara is a non-profit social enterprise developing the Jara Unit, a solar and crank-powered IoT education device that delivers offline, curriculum-aligned learning to K-12 children in low-resource, low-internet communities, deployed through government, NGO, and corporate partners in Nepal and Nigeria with 20+ additional countries planned.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Emergency Education Hardware

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Other Schools and Instruction (6116)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Learning Device Ecosystems & 1:1 Program Solutions (Devices, MDM, Charging) (EDAJAMAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Education Tablets (HDACAMAC), Device Lifecycle Services (Imaging, Deployment, MDM/UEM Ops, Asset Tagging) (EDAEAHAK), Academic Integrity, Device Monitoring & Classroom Management Tools (EDAJAMAK)

Keywords

• Offline education devices
• Emergency education solutions
• Solar-powered learning hardware
• Curriculum-aligned content delivery
• IoT education technology

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Device Sales/Partnerships: Jara provides the Jara Unit through partnerships with governments, NGOs, and corporations who implement the solution in communities. Revenue is generated through device provision to implementing partners.
2. Donations and Grants: The company accepts donations through its website and has won grant awards from organizations like Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge and various competitions to fund operations and technology development.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Jara designs, builds, and deploys the Jara Unit, a solar and crank-powered personal education device that provides K-12 children in under-resourced, low-internet, and low-electricity communities with offline access to localized curriculum-aligned educational content. The device functions as a workbook, personal tutor, textbook, and quizzing tool, with IoT-enabled remote updatability and durable, waterproof, dust-proof construction for low/no-infrastructure contexts.

Product overview

Jara offers a single core product: the Jara Unit. This is a solar and crank-powered personal education device designed specifically for K-12 children in under-resourced, low-internet, and low-electricity communities. The device provides offline access to localized curriculum-aligned educational content and can function as a workbook, personal tutor, textbook, and quizzing tool. It is IoT-enabled, durable, waterproof, dust-proof, and features gamified content. Content categories include curriculum-aligned courses (Maths, Languages, Sciences), life-skills (Digital Skills, Financial Literacy), and coping education for children affected by natural disasters or displacement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Jara Unit The Jara Unit is a solar and crank-powered personal education device designed for K-12 children (ages 10-13) in under-resourced, low-internet, and low-electricity communities, providing offline access to localized curriculum-aligned educational content. The device functions as a workbook, personal tutor, textbook, and quizzing tool, with IoT-enabled remote updatability, durable waterproof and dust-proof hardware, and contextually gamified content. It supports curriculum-aligned courses (Maths, Languages, Sciences), life-skills (Digital Skills, Financial Literacy, Localized Masonry, Electronics Repair), and coping education for children affected by natural disasters or displacement. The Jara Unit is deployed through partnerships with governments, NGOs, and corporations rather than sold directly to consumers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 50,000 children impacted through education programs led by team members
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ministries of EducationcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerJara works with ministries of education to align courses with national curriculum and implement the Jara Unit in schools across deployment regions.
• Schools and TeacherscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCollaborates with schools and teachers to use the Jara Unit as a teaching tool during self-study time and for students to continue learning at home.
• e-Learning PlatformscoreTechnology or IntegrationPartners with global e-learning platforms and digital education content creators to provide locally customized content through the Jara Unit to children in low-power and low-Internet communities.
• Reimagine EducationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJara won Gold Award for Best Innovation in US & Canada region and was invited to showcase at their global conference on shaping the future of education.
• IntelminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCTO Oluwatobi Oyinlola serves as Intel Advisory Board Member for IoT. Intel logo appears in Jara's recognized partners.
• Skoll FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJara was invited as a Delegate to the Skoll World Forum, the world's most influential social entrepreneurs gathering.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• One Laptop Per Child (OLPC): OLPC pioneered low-cost, ruggedized educational computing devices for children in developing countries. It is the most direct historical analog to Jara's mission of deploying purpose-built learning hardware to underserved learners globally, and shares Jara's challenge of scaling custom hardware for low-infrastructure environments.
• Rumie Initiative: Rumie provides low-cost, pre-loaded educational tablets (the 'LearnTablet') to underserved communities, with content partnerships and a focus on digital literacy. It directly competes with Jara in the niche of dedicated offline learning devices for low-resource and humanitarian contexts.
• Worldreader: Worldreader delivers digital reading and learning content to children and families in low-income communities, historically via e-readers and now increasingly via mobile. It shares Jara's mission of expanding educational access in under-resourced geographies through device-enabled content distribution.
• Learning Equality: Learning Equality builds Kolibri, an offline-first platform for delivering curated educational content in low-bandwidth settings. It is a direct content-and-platform peer to Jara's offline curriculum model and is often deployed alongside dedicated devices in underserved schools.
• BRCK / Mawingu: BRCK (now operating as Mawingu Networks in Kenya) provides rugged connectivity hardware and Wi-Fi for schools and communities in Africa. It is a direct comparable in ruggedized, infrastructure-light hardware designed to enable learning in African and low-resource contexts.
• M-Kopa: M-Kopa is the leading pay-as-you-go solar energy provider in East Africa with millions of connected home solar units. It is highly comparable to Jara in business model (asset financing for off-grid hardware, IoT-enabled remote management, East/West Africa distribution) and demonstrates the unit economics and scaling playbook for similar devices.
• Ubongo: Ubongo creates localized, multi-language educational media (especially animated shows like Ubongo Kids) for African children, much of it delivered via TV, mobile, and USB stick. It is a comparable in delivering curriculum-aligned, low-infrastructure learning content to the same K-12 segment Jara serves.
• Eneza Education: Eneza Education delivers mobile-based learning and two-way SMS/WhatsApp tutoring to students across Sub-Saharan Africa. It targets the same under-resourced K-12 segment as Jara in West Africa and shares Jara's reliance on low-bandwidth, low-infrastructure delivery models.
• EIDU: EIDU is a B2B EdTech platform providing offline-capable learning tools, teacher dashboards, and curriculum-aligned content to low-cost private and government schools in emerging markets (notably Kenya and India). It is directly comparable to Jara's school-focused, ministry-aligned deployment model.

Broad incumbents

• UNICEF Giga (Global Initiative to Connect Every School): Giga is a UNICEF/ITU-led global initiative to connect every school to the internet and support digital learning infrastructure. It addresses a broader connectivity and infrastructure mandate that overlaps with Jara's offline-first approach to reaching unconnected learners, and represents a potential partner or competitor at the policy/funding layer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/JoinJara

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Jara