Nicholas Riemer, CEO and Co-founder of The Invigilator.
Image: Supplied
South African EdTech start-up The Invigilator has secured a significant milestone in its global journey, an $11 million (R195 million) international equity investment, led by Jersey-based investment firm Kaltroco.
For a company that began in 2020 with a mission to tackle exam integrity in resource-constrained environments, this raise is more than just capital; it’s a validation of African innovation on the global stage.
At its core, The Invigilator solves a problem that has haunted educators worldwide: how to ensure credibility in assessments while making them accessible to all students. Unlike heavyweight proctoring tools that demand high-speed internet and expensive infrastructure, The Invigilator was designed with South Africa’s digital divide in mind. Its low-data, mobile-first platform has since scaled to over 850,000 students across 100+ institutions, processing more than 6 million assessments.
Now, with global backing, the start-up is moving beyond its origins. CEO and co-founder Nicholas Riemer says the investment will turbocharge the company’s AI-powered capabilities, expand multilingual support, and cement partnerships in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
“We always knew we were building something special,” Riemer said. “This funding allows us to push AI innovation further, whether it’s live monitoring that runs data-light on mobile or new AI-detection tools that help teachers identify when students are over-relying on ChatGPT and other generative models.”
One of the biggest tensions in modern education is balancing the use of AI as a tool versus curbing its misuse.
The Invigilator’s new AI detection functionality, launched in 2025, takes a nuanced approach. By profiling individual student writing patterns and analysing how they answer each question, the platform helps educators spot when AI has done too much of the thinking. It’s not just about catching cheaters; it’s about protecting critical thinking skills in an era where generative AI is rewriting how students learn.
For Kaltroco, the investment is as much about opportunity as it is about impact.
“The Invigilator fits our thesis perfectly, sound business model, exceptional team, and a technology that drives positive change,” Cornou Rykaart, Principal at Kaltroco, said.
“It makes quality education more inclusive while freeing institutions from physical infrastructure restrictions.”
This isn’t charity, it’s smart capital. With education increasingly digitised post-pandemic, the global remote proctoring market is projected to grow sharply. The Invigilator’s ability to scale in both bandwidth-rich and bandwidth-poor markets positions it as a rare, globally adaptable solution.
What began as a South African answer to exam integrity now powers assessments for institutions like Boston City Campus, UCT Online High School, and Navitas in Australia. Each partnership demonstrates the same value proposition: accessible, secure, and cost-effective exam monitoring at scale.
Dr. Mario Landman, Head of Educational Technology at IIE Advtech, highlights why The Invigilator stood out: “We needed something robust enough for massive student numbers, but also adaptable to South Africa’s load shedding and patchy internet. No other solution ticked all the boxes.”
The Invigilator’s product roadmap goes well beyond digital proctoring. Its growing basket of tools includes plagiarism detection, writing-style analysis, venue-based facial recognition, and even instant marking workflows. The next frontier, according to the team, is expanding into professional bodies and global corporate training, spaces where exam integrity is just as crucial as in universities.
As it sets up new teams in the US, Asia, and Europe, The Invigilator embodies a growing trend: African start-ups not just competing, but leading globally in tech innovation.
And in an age where AI is reshaping how knowledge is consumed, assessed, and certified, this South African-born start-up isn’t just monitoring exams, it’s rewriting the rules of digital education.