EdTech Insiders Weekly Update (6/6)
Your 5-minute guide to the Edtech world
BIG FIVE HEADLINES
In the latest Week in EdTech episode hosts Ben and Alex cover recent trends and events in the edtech space. In case you missed it, here are the BIG FIVE of the week:
1. EdTech Funding Landscape
Some Edtech and generalist funders are worried about the economy and have lost money on tech and crypto bets. Others have money to spend and are looking for great investment opportunities.
Why Some Investors Say Edtech ‘Doom and Gloom’ Overhyped (Edsurge)
Unacademy tells employees to focus on profitability at all costs to ‘survive the winter’ (TechCrunch)
2. College Enrollment
College enrollment is dropping at all levels, and students are not returning after the pandemic; what does this mean for the future of higher ed and Edtech?
College Enrollment Drops, Even as the Pandemic’s Effects Ebb (NY Times)
Credential Train Is Leaving the Station—Get on Board (Inside Higher Ed)
3. Tech as Content
Educators are thinking more about how to bring cutting-edge tech concepts, like AI, crypto, and, yes, AP Computer Science into school curricula.
Teaching AI to All Students (Getting Smart)
Why children around the world need crypto education (Forkast)
Code.org to Offer Equity-Minded AP Computer Science Curriculum Nationwide (PRNewswire)
4. Indian EdTech Shrinks
Several Indian Edtech companies, including market leader Byju’s, are fording some rougher waters; some are looking to higher value markets like the US as a next move.
Byju Raveendran Set to Focus on US Market as India’s EdTech Dries Up (India West)
Byju's to divert focus on global businesses as Indian market is shrinking (Business Insider India)
5. Funding + M&A
Selected funding rounds, as well as mergers, acquisitions and partnerships:
Zovio sells TutorMe to GoGuardian for $55M
SkillePointe secures $2.25M in Series B
Learnfully raises $2M
Safe School raises $2M
Roblox to partner with medically-prescribed video game
To hear the Insiders’ take on these and more, listen now here or on any platform where you get your podcasts.
ANOTHER BIG FIVE (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)
A lot happens in a week. So here are another five headlines to keep you up to date with the edtech world.
1. PRISMS RAISED $4 MILLION FROM A16Z TO TEACH KIDS STEM IN VIRTUAL REALITY
Prisms VR raised just over $4 million in Seed funding. The San Francisco-based company implements virtual reality in math education, allowing students to see and experience concepts in a “real life” context.
2. TIGER GLOBAL-BACKED EDTECH FIRM SCALER READIES $50-MILLION M&A ARSENAL
“Soonicorn” Scaler is an online tech education platform providing upskilling technology capabilities for learners, last valued at $710M in February.
For FY23, co-founder Abhimanyu Saxena sees a consolidation opportunity amid slowdown of funding and drop in edtech companies’ valuations.
Saxena claims “In terms of revenue, Scaler can become a $2-3 billion company.”
3. GUILD EDUCATION REACHES $4.4 BILLION VALUATION AS LABOR MARKET DEMANDS CONTINUE—AND A DOWNTURN THREAT RISES
Guild Education—an edtech unicorn in the field of adult education—has raised $175 million in new funding and plans to invest it in expanding to new in-demand markets.
Co-founder and CEO Rachel Carlson is hopeful about the company’s future despite recent downturns, citing the importance of worker reskilling in today’s labor market.
4. EDTECH STARTUP UDAYY SHUTS DOWN, LAYS OFF ENTIRE STAFF
Edtech companies continue to struggle post-pandemic following two years of hypergrowth and cost-cutting doesn’t always cut it. Udayy, an Indian platform offering English and math classes for younger students, recently shut down as user acquisition got too expensive with kids returning back to in-person education.
5. 4 IN 10 EDUCATORS LACK A VOICE IN CHOOSING ED TECH
A survey by the EdTech Evidence Exchange showed that 41% out of 1,000+ participating educators are not involved in choosing the edtech tools they use, even though many stress the importance of “being confident in it themselves first, before bringing it to students”.
DEEP DIVE
Why Edtech companies should look to partner with big tech players rather than build their own virtual educational worlds
Editorial by Alex Sarlin
In theory, what makes the concept of the ‘metaverse’ different from any of the virtual worlds we use now, no matter how large they have scaled, is that “the Metaverse” is thought to be a single entity; like “The Internet” or “Asia”, or of course, “The Universe.”
This is distinct from other media models—there are millions of different websites, hundreds of thousands of game worlds, hundreds of television channels—but—at least in theory- only one “Metaverse”. It’s not ‘a metaverse’- it’s “The Metaverse” continue reading »
LISTEN
On this week’s Edtech Insiders podcast, we spoke to Erin Mote, CEO of InnovateEDU:
“You probably use Lyft, or Uber, and as an enterprise architect, I know the back end of those tools are largely the same. But what's different is the way somebody experiences Uber or Lyft.
What has happened is that the innovation is really on the 20% of those two tools, and the 80% common is on the back end. And that's something that underpins the work we're doing in alliances: helping people find the 80% common.
What's the things we can actually agree on in education? How do we build enterprise class architecture in the cloud that dramatically lowers the cost of that type of data infrastructure so that every district in the country can have access to it?”
To learn more about Erin’s amazing work on projects like the Brooklyn Lab Charter School, Landing Zone, and BIRD-E, as well as why interoperability is so important to all stakeholders in education, listen to the full episode »
READ
THIS WEEK’S PICKS
How to Really Fix Higher Ed by Ben Sasse
Continuing the conversation on debt forgiveness, Senator Ben Sasse explains why a student loan bailout may not be the magic fix to a broken system many hope for.
How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching by Susan A. Ambrose, Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Marsha C. Lovett, Marie K. Norman.
“The single best book on learning I know” - Alex Sarlin
PLAY
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