Sekou launches a French-first LMS for African K-12 schools that supports 4,000+ students per school
- 4000+
- students supported per school
E-Learning Platform Development
Generic e-learning platforms are built for their business model, not yours.
Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi are built for solo course creators selling individual courses with a simple checkout. Their revenue sharing model and learner management assumptions work well for that use case and fail for course marketplaces with instructor revenue sharing, corporate training portals with multi-tenant learner management, and professional certification programmes with specific assessment requirements. Custom e-learning platform development builds around your specific learning model and revenue requirements.
Course creation, publishing, and content management built for your content types
Learner enrolment, progress tracking, and completion certification
Revenue model support: direct sales, subscription, cohort pricing, or marketplace with instructor revenue share
Video hosting integration, SCORM support, and multi-device content delivery
Recent outcomes
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4.9
on ClutchThe problem
Sound familiar?
SaaS e-learning platforms (Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi) taking 25-50% of revenue or limiting your pricing and content model?
Platform not supporting the content types, learner management structure, or revenue sharing model your e-learning business requires?
Short answer
RaftLabs builds custom e-learning platforms: online course platforms, course marketplaces with instructor revenue sharing, corporate training portals, and educational content delivery systems with video hosting, SCORM/xAPI support, progress tracking, and certification management. Custom e-learning platform development is the right call for course creators, education companies, and corporates whose business model or content requirements don't fit Teachable, Thinkific, or Moodle's assumptions. Most e-learning platform projects RaftLabs delivers ship in 10-18 weeks at a fixed cost with full source code ownership.
Key takeaways
- Owning the platform typically recoups its build cost within 12-18 months once SaaS revenue-share fees (5-10% of transaction revenue) are eliminated at meaningful volume.
- Corporate buyer requirements - SSO via SAML/OIDC, SCIM HRIS sync, LTI 1.3, and multi-tenant data isolation - are frequently the deciding factor over consumer LMS platforms.
- Video hosting runs through Mux or Cloudflare Stream with automated transcription for WCAG 2.1 AA captions, never self-hosted on the application server.
- A single-creator platform runs $25,000-$60,000; a course marketplace with Stripe Connect payouts runs $50,000-$100,000; a full corporate LMS with SSO and SCIM runs $60,000-$150,000.
Trusted by
The month the platform fee outgrew the platform.
A course business grows, and the SaaS platform's cut grows with it: 25 to 50 percent of every sale, whether or not the platform did anything new to earn it. The checkout, the content types, the revenue split, the learner management, all decided by someone else's business model.
Then a corporate buyer asks for SSO, a compliance audit trail, and SCIM sync from their HRIS. The platform has no answer, because it was never built for that buyer. Neither was the pricing, the marketplace payout, or the certification programme you actually want to run.
The platform was built for a solo creator. The business stopped being one.
Custom e-learning platform development builds the platform around your specific learning model and revenue requirements, whether that is a course marketplace, a corporate training portal, or a certification programme. The economics are the usual trigger: once SaaS revenue-share fees (5-10% of transaction revenue) disappear at meaningful volume, owning the platform typically recoups its build cost within 12-18 months.
RaftLabs has shipped 100+ products since 2015, with a track record building LMS and edtech platforms. The team that scopes your learning model is the team that ships it: no bait-and-switch, no offshore handoff after the contract is signed. SSO, SCIM, and LTI 1.3 are native, not bolted on after a sales objection. And the cost is fixed and locked in writing before any development starts.
Custom is justified by revenue-share economics or content requirements, not chosen by default.
Everything on the left should already be true for your business. Even one thing on the right, and a SaaS platform is likely the smarter first step.
A fit
01
SaaS revenue sharing (25-50% of revenue on Teachable, Thinkific, or Kajabi) is unsustainable at your volume.
02
You're building a course marketplace, corporate training portal, or certification programme those platforms don't support, and budget for a build from $25,000.
03
Corporate buyers need SSO, SCIM HRIS sync, LTI 1.3, or compliance audit trails you can't get from a consumer LMS.
Not a fit
- A single creator selling a handful of courses where a SaaS platform's revenue share is still affordable at your volume.
- Standard course delivery with no SCORM/xAPI, marketplace, or corporate integration needs.
- No repeat learner base or revenue yet to justify owning the platform.
What we build
Built around your learning model, not a generic one
- 01Course marketplaceMulti-instructor onboarding and editorial review with automated revenue-share payouts through Stripe Connect, xAPI progress tracking to an LRS, and LTI 1.3 Advantage Services connecting to institutional LMS platforms.
- 02Corporate training portalSCIM sync from your HRIS, SSO via SAML or OIDC, multi-tenant subdomain architecture, and compliance training audit reports exportable for regulatory review.
- 03Content delivery and video hostingHLS adaptive bitrate streaming through Mux or Cloudflare Stream with automated captioning, SCORM 1.2/2004 runtime for Articulate and Captivate content, and offline caching for mobile apps. Video hosting runs at roughly $0.50 to $2.00 per GB stored plus delivery bandwidth, never self-hosted on the application server.
- 04Revenue model and paymentsOne-time purchase, subscription, cohort, and institutional licensing models on Stripe, with dunning workflows, affiliate tracking, and multi-currency support built in.
- 05Assessment and certificationMultiple question types with randomised pools, xAPI-tracked completion, verifiable certificate links, and Open Badges digital credentials.
- 06Learner experience and engagementDiscussion forums, cohort leaderboards, learning path sequencing, i18n content routing, and white-label branding with custom domain support.
LMS or e-learning platform: which one are you building?
The label matters less than the feature priority behind it. An LMS typically refers to internal corporate training focused on compliance and onboarding, where SCORM, HRIS integration, and audit reports matter most. An e-learning platform often refers to externally-facing marketplaces and certification programmes, where payment processing, instructor revenue sharing, and certificate credibility matter more. Both share similar technical requirements but differ in what has to be excellent on day one. Scoping starts by naming which of the two you are actually building, because it changes the architecture underneath.
Have an e-learning platform project?
Tell us your learning model, content types, revenue structure, and what the SaaS platforms you've looked at can't do. We'll scope the right platform and give you a fixed cost.
How it works
From scope to live e-learning platform
- Week 101
Learning model scoping
We map your content types, revenue model, and current platform limitations. You leave week 1 with a written scope document and a fixed-price quote.
- Weeks 2-502
Content and revenue architecture design
Course structure, payment flows, and certification logic designed against your actual programme.
- Weeks 6-1503
Build and integrate
Video hosting, assessment engine, and payment processing built in parallel, tested against real content.
- Final 2-3 weeks04
Launch and instructor/admin training
Instructors and administrators trained on the platform before full rollout.
What clients say
What our clients say
Three-year average engagement. Founders and operators describing the work in their own words. No marketing varnish.
Jennyfer Ngueno
Ivory CoastCoFounder and CEO, Sekou
RaftLabs has been an exceptional partner. From the start, they became more than just a service provider, they embraced our vision with their expertise and dedication.
Where you land depends on scope, not negotiation:
- Single-creator platform, $25,000-$60,000
- A course platform for one creator: publishing, enrolment, progress tracking, and completion certification.
- Course marketplace, $50,000-$100,000
- Multi-instructor management with Stripe Connect revenue-share payouts, xAPI tracking, and LTI 1.3.
- Corporate LMS, $60,000-$150,000
- SSO, SCIM HRIS sync, multi-tenant data isolation, and compliance audit reports.
What it costs
Custom e-learning platform, starting at $25,000.
Built around your learning model and revenue structure, delivered in 10-18 weeks with full source code ownership.
Starts at $25,000
10 to 18 weeks to live, with full source code ownership, no revenue share, no platform fee. Most clients start with the core platform and layer on features like cohorts or certifications once it's proven.
SaaS platforms take 25-50% of revenue for as long as you use them. Most clients start with the core learning platform, prove it against real learners, then add revenue features like certifications once it's earning its keep.
No hourly billing
Once we scope the core platform, that price is locked in writing. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices as you add features.
Honest scope
Custom is justified by revenue-share economics or content requirements, not recommended by default. We'll tell you when a SaaS platform is enough.
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Read moreFrequently asked questions
Custom makes sense when SaaS revenue sharing is unsustainable at your volume, when you're building a course marketplace needing instructor revenue sharing and Stripe Connect payouts, when your content model includes SCORM/xAPI types consumer LMS platforms don't support well, or when corporate buyer requirements (SSO, SCIM, LTI 1.3, compliance audit trails) exceed what those platforms offer.
An LMS typically refers to internal corporate training focused on compliance and onboarding, where SCORM, HRIS integration, and audit reports matter most. An e-learning platform often refers to externally-facing marketplaces and certification programmes, where payment processing, instructor revenue sharing, and certificate credibility matter more. Both share similar technical requirements but differ in feature priority.
We integrate with Mux or Cloudflare Stream for HLS adaptive bitrate streaming, transcoded automatically and delivered via CDN. AWS Transcribe generates VTT caption files automatically for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. Hosting cost is typically $0.50 to $2.00 per GB stored plus delivery bandwidth.
A course platform for a single creator typically runs $25,000 to $60,000. A course marketplace with multi-instructor management and Stripe Connect payouts typically runs $50,000 to $100,000. A full corporate LMS with SCIM, SSO, multi-tenant architecture, and compliance audit reports typically runs $60,000 to $150,000.
Work with us
Tell us what you need. We'll tell you what it would take.
We scope E-Learning Platform Development in 30 minutes. You walk away with a clear cost, timeline, and approach. No commitment required.
- Scope and cost agreed before work starts. No surprises. No obligation.
- Working prototype within 3 weeks of kickoff.
- Pay by milestone. You see progress before each invoice.
- 60-day post-launch warranty. Bug fixes, UI tweaks, and deployment support. No retainer.
- All conversations are NDA-protected.
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