Snapplify is an award-winning edtech company driving digital learning innovation globally. We provide secure, integrated e-learning solutions, AI-powered tools, and a digital library of education resources to empower students, teachers, and institutions.
Snapplify is an award-winning global edtech company delivering innovative digital learning solutions that serve the evolving needs of students, educators, institutions, and integration partners worldwide. Its platform combines powerful infrastructure, AI-enhanced tools, and 24/7 support to enable secure, collaborative, and scalable e-learning environments.
Snapplify integrates seamlessly with over 600 leading education tools and provides single sign-on access, streamlining administration while ensuring data privacy.
Learners and educators benefit from 24/7 access to a rich digital library of over 50,000 free resources—including curriculum-aligned textbooks, study guides, past exam papers, and children's books—alongside a comprehensive catalogue of educational content from leading local and international publishers.
To support digital inclusion, Snapplify offers zero-rated access in key African markets—South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia—allowing students to access the platform without using mobile data.[1]
As Africa's largest school data management system and a trusted government partner, Snapplify has successfully delivered large-scale digital education rollouts across the continent. Its UNESCO-endorsed Africa e-library program stands as a testament to our ability to implement scalable, impactful solutions.
With a global outlook and a commitment to innovation and accessibility, Snapplify is shaping the future of education through intelligent, technology-driven solutions. Snapplify is an ebook aggregator and distributor, with an ebook offering of more than 1.8M titles from more than 1,000 publishers. Snapplify has worked with many education institutions across Africa and globally, offering digital education tools and services.
Snapplify was founded by Wesley Lynch in 2011 in South Africa. The business has expanded into Africa, Europe and the United States, with offices across South Africa, as well as in UK, Nairobi and Amsterdam.
Book Buddy is Snapplify's flagship AI-powered learning assistant, created by the team at Snapplify and designed to transform how students interact with textbooks and educational content.
Developed as the new phase of Snapplify's toolkit for learning—with the understanding that print would remain vital—Book Buddy is an assistant powered by Snapplify's own proprietary technology, built to enhance the print experience and support learners using textbooks, including those not written in their mother tongue or native language.
Key Features
Real-time Q&A: Learners receive context-sensitive, level-appropriate answers to questions about the material they are studying.
Summarisation: Provides concise summaries of chapters or full books to aid understanding and revision.
Concept Clarification: Breaks down complex ideas and offers practical examples.
Mother-Tongue Support: Helps explain key concepts in the learner's home language, improving comprehension in multilingual learning environments.
Accessible via WhatsApp: Book Buddy is also available as a conversational AI via WhatsApp, making it highly accessible to learners even with low bandwidth or limited internet access. This channel allows students to ask questions about their textbooks and receive instant assistance directly within a familiar messaging app.
Purpose-Driven Innovation
Book Buddy is more than an AI tool—it's the perfect study companion, built to support learners at their level and grounded in the materials they are already using. Whether in print or digital, it personalises and enriches the learning experience.
As a continuation of Snapplify's mission to enable mother-tongue learning, Book Buddy extends the impactful work that earned the company the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize. By using Snapplify's own locally relevant AI technology, Book Buddy advances inclusive education for learners worldwide.
History
Snapplify was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2011, as a subsidiary of Realm Digital.[3] The company secured a number of global partnerships, working with brands such as Random House, Popular Mechanics, Rolling Stone, Ramsay Media, and First National Bank (FNB).[4]
In 2015, South African venture capital firm AngelHub, backed by former First National Bank CEO Michael Jordaan and RMB co-founder Paul Harris’ family, announced that it had invested in Snapplify.[5] In 2016, Snapplify raised expansion capital from existing funder AngelHub Ventures, as well as new backers from South Africa and the UK to enable the company's continued growth into new markets in Africa.[6]
In 2019, Snapplify secured $2 million expansion capital from venture capital firm Knife Capital, and empowered African investment manager Hlayisani Capital's Hlayisani Growth Fund.[7] In early 2019, Snapplify released basic Engage – a free version of their Engage e-learning platform.[8] In 2020, Snapplify acquired Onnie Media, an education media hub for teachers and the hub's online marketplace for teachers in South Africa, Teacha![9]
Recognition
Snapplify's Africa e-library program, which promotes mother-tongue literacy, has been endorsed by UNESCO.[10]
Snapplify was honoured with the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize in 2023 for its Africa e-Library project, which promotes mother-tongue literacy across the continent. This prestigious award recognises Snapplify's innovative efforts in providing accessible digital educational resources to learners from diverse linguistic backgrounds.
The Africa e-Library offers over 50,000 free eBooks and supports content in all 11 South African languages, as well as other African languages like Swahili. It enables teachers to share curriculum-aligned materials and fosters reading communities in schools, even in areas with limited physical book access.
This initiative has reached over 3 million learners through partnerships with local governments and more than 1,000 publishing and content partners. Snapplify's recognition by UNESCO underscores its commitment to enhancing literacy and education through digital innovation.
Community Initiatives
The Snapplify Foundation established to increase access to digital education, has partnered with organisations like iSchoolAfrica and mountaineer Saray Khumalo to set up digital libraries in disadvantaged schools across South Africa's nine provinces.
Key Programmes
The Snapplify Foundation operates several programmes designed to support both educators and learners.[11]
Learner Programmes: Ensuring learners from disadvantaged communities have access to digital content and resources that impact literacy, numeracy, and digital skills.
Teacher Programmes: Providing educators with the support and tools they need to succeed, including professional development resources and collaboration opportunities through partnerships with organisations like Teacha![12]
ICT Interventions: Addressing challenges such as low internet connectivity, high data costs, and lack of access to infrastructure by taking a holistic approach to building learning interventions.
Bursary Support: Assisting organisations in the procurement and distribution of prescribed digital textbooks for students who receive funding through their bursary programmes.
Publishing Partners
Snapplify currently works with all major international publishers including Pearson, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, Cengage, Sage, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Elsevier as well as offering titles from all the major African publishers i.e. Lexis Nexis, Juta, Van Schaik Publishers, Longhorn.[13]
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