# Manara

> Manara is a Silicon Valley-backed edtech company training and placing software engineers, AI and cloud talent across the Middle East and North Africa. Through cohort-based learning, mentorship from senior engineers at companies like Google and Meta, and partnerships with AWS, Manara has trained over 300,000 learners and helped hundreds land jobs at global tech firms.

- **Founded:** 2020
- **Headquarters:** Berkeley, California, United States
- **Founders:** Iliana Montauk (Co-Founder & President), Laila Abudahi (Co-Founder & CTO)
- **Team size:** ~280 (extended team across cohorts and mentors); ~7 core teams across 11 countries
- **Products:** Cohort-based Engineering Program, AWS Cloud & AI Training, Enterprise Upskilling, Manara Community
- **Notable:** Raised $3M seed led by Stripe (2022) with backing from Reid Hoffman, Paul Graham, Eric Ries, Y Combinator alum, 300,000+ learners trained

## Products & services

- **Cohort-based Engineering Program** — Intensive interview prep, system design and career coaching for software engineers, with mentorship from senior engineers at top global tech companies.
- **AWS Cloud & AI Training** — Bilingual (English/Arabic) AWS certification prep covering Solutions Architect, AI Practitioner and ML specialties.
- **Enterprise Upskilling** — Custom curricula for governments and companies upskilling teams in AI, cloud and digital transformation.
- **Manara Community** — Peer-to-peer practice, resume reviews, mock interviews and access to a network of MENA engineers placed at global tech firms.

## Achievements

- Raised $3M seed led by Stripe (2022) with backing from Reid Hoffman, Paul Graham, Eric Ries
- Y Combinator alum
- 300,000+ learners trained
- 2,600+ AWS certifications earned
- 86% of cohort grads received offers within 5 months; >50% at FAANG
- Learners reported ~300% salary increases
- 40%+ women participation rate

## Latest updates

- **2024-2025** — Expanded AWS partnership; scaled cloud and AI Practitioner certification training across MENA.
- **2022-05** — Closed $3M seed round led by Stripe.

## Links

- Website: https://manara.tech
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/teammanara
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/TeamManara
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@manaratech
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manara.tech/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teammanara

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/manara
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-19