BIG FIVE HEADLINES (…SOMETIMES SIX)
1. CHINA
Emerging from crackdown, China edtech firms make a return to the market. Since 2017, there have been 12 US IPOs from Chinese education companies, including the most recent from language learning tutor provider Golden Sun Education. However, Golden Sun Education had to divest from two private schools to stay in line with new Chinese regulations prohibiting off-campus tutoring services focused on governmentally defined “core curriculum”. Spanish, for example, falls outside of this curriculum and regulations. In general, there is lots of uncertainty about the Chinese educational space:
“If it’s ideological, that means the private sector will largely wither away.”
2. SINGAPORE
GeniusU, an edtech platform company, was named "Singapore Top 10 Emerging Giant" in the KPMG & HSBC "Emerging Giants in Asia Pacific 2022" Report. The report was based on pitchbook data of 6,472 companies in the Asia Pacific region, valuated at US$500 million or less. Genius Group is a world-leading entrepreneur education group with offering a student-centered, life-long learning curriculum that prepares students with the leadership, entrepreneurial, and life skills to succeed in today’s market, with 2.9 million students worldwide.
3. INDIA
India’s edtech is still in the same old bad situation: PE/VC Fundraising dives 80% in Q2.
4. USA
The popular subscription-based online language learning service Babbel brings B2B language learning service to the US. The Berlin-based company expects to see about 6% of its total revenue come from this venture by the end of the year, and US CEO Julie Hansen said they are so far ahead of goal. Language learning seems to be a resilient market, where being stuck at home or traveling are both incentives to get learning.
5. SECURITY
Higher ed's response to ransomware attacks is slower and more costly than any other sector. Yet ransomware attacks — malware designed to deny a user or organization access to files on their computer by encrypting them — are have become frequent in the education space. The high success rate of 74% suggests institutions are not well-prepared to ward off such attacks.
Schools are spending over $3 billion on security, which proves to be a war at many fronts. Outside cyberattacks, schools are preparing against shootings, fights, medical incidents, and accidents. Experts advise schools to think carefully before buying any products and to consider factors like utility, scalability and long-term implementation.
6. METAVERSE
A team of educators, scientists, and entrepreneurs recently released a map to the Metaverse which gives a comprehensive overview of XR and its applications in the education space. A recent Forbes piece discusses how the Metaverse can be used to improve notoriously low engagement levels among faculty and students and provide a cost-effective platform for teaching emerging industry-relevant skills. Both pieces agree:
“The future of higher education requires scalable solutions that leverage technology as a tool, rather than an end in and of itself.”
They advise educators and policymakers to explore the space and how it can support their specific learning objectives before making decisions.
FUNDING + M&A
Tutoring management platform Pearl raises $4m. The company, which is distinguished for its research-backed approach and focus on efficacy, will use the funds for talent development, expansion, new data and reporting engines and to improve engagement for educators and their partners.
Creator accelerator program Nas Academy raises $12m. The Singapore-based company was started by Nuseir Yassin, the creator behind Nas Daily. The funding will go to support global engineering, product teams and grow the company’s Web3 offering.
Public Benefit Corporation and B-Corporation Revolution Foods acquires Better 4 You Meals, the leading provider of school and senior citizen fresh meal services in California and Nevada. Revolution Foods will grow its production and community impact by approximately 50%.
Leeds Equity Partners sells Amplifire to Polaris Growth Fund (PGF). Existing Amplifire leadership receives strategic investment from PGF. Amplifire's solution offers high stakes workforce training via its adaptive learning software platform that uses advances in cognitive and learning science to assess learner knowledge. The growth of the company was mostly driven by its collaborative ecosystem Healthcare Alliance which helps health systems reduce training time and costs, increase revenue generating activities, and improve patient outcomes by developing clinical and non-clinical content.
LISTEN
In the latest episode, we talk to Sophie Ruddock of Multiverse, Europe’s newest and second ever edtech unicorn:
“The cost of the degree has gone up 1400% in the last 30 years, with the product not changing at all. And that, for me, is an outlier in almost every other product innovation that exists. What we see is actually people are starting to really question the return on investment from a degree because of the fact that large majority of individuals are left behind and in many ways college actually widens the opportunity gap.”
To learn more about Multiverse’s apprenticeship program, the up-and-coming alternative to college, listen to the full episode »
READ
An Introduction to Learning in the Metaverse by Daniel Pimentel, Geraldine Fauville, Kai Frazier, Eileen McGivney, Sergio Rosas & Erika Woolsey.
A great overview of incorporating immersive XR technologies in education. Neat illustrations included!
Our highlight: a growing map of European edtech landscape.