Takeaways From the Edtech Asia Summit
The AWS Education Accelerator, the AI + EDU Conference, new funding rounds, and more!
Last Call: AWS Education Accelerator
Attention all edtech startups and scale-ups! The Amazon Web Services Education Accelerator is still taking submissions, but only until November 17th. The time to apply is now!
This 10-week program includes up to $100K in AWS computing credits, mentoring, AWS technical training, demo day, and even a trip to Seattle! International applications are welcome.
For Edtech Insiders readers, keep in mind that:
For a company like Amazon/AWS, even scaled companies that are 5-10 years old count as startups 🤓
Submissions to the Education Accelerator also put you on the radar for other AWS Accelerators, such as the Generative AI Accelerator, the Black Founders Accelerator, Latino Founders Accelerator and Women Founders Accelerator
If you apply, be sure to mention that Edtech Insiders recommended you for the program! Get those applications in!
Takeaways From the Edtech Asia Summit
By Phuong Do
This year, Edtech Insiders had the amazing opportunity to attend the Edtech Asia Summit in Bali, Indonesia.
The conference was full of valuable insights and inspiration from leaders in the edtech space that we are excited to share with you – one of our first forays into a large, complex, and powerful edtech ecosystem that we don’t cover nearly enough.
Below is our overview and some takeaways from the conference! Keep an eye out for a podcast episode coming soon with interviews from the Edtech Asia Summit as well!
Edtech in Asia
When we think about Edtech in Asia, it’s important firstly to recognize that Asia is an extremely large region with a multitude of markets and submarkets. The average income in South Korea is ~10x the average wage in India or the Philippines, and the median age in Japan (48) is twice that of Laos (24).
Edtech companies looking to expand into Asia must understand the breadth and variety of cultural norms, educational systems, and government policies before jumping into these markets. It’s always best to spend time in any country in which you are looking to market, and this is doubly true for Asian edtech markets.
With that in mind, here are some of the high level insights we gleaned from this conference on the state of edtech in Asian markets, along with some tips for companies looking to engage edtech markets in these regions:
The Emerging Edtech Landscape in Asia
At a high level, there are two markets in Asia that edtech companies have been targeting up until this point:
Developed markets like Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia that are more likely to share similarities with US and European markets.
Emerging markets like India, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand, which may hold greater opportunity for new growth and expansion, but for which the average customer has less money to spend.
Sandeep Aneja and Gaurav Jain from Kaizenvest shared some key insights on emerging Edtech markets in Asia, and offered tips for companies hoping to jump into these emerging markets that offer opportunity and growth:
1. B2C and B2B2C Focus
Emerging markets in Asia are dominated by B2C and B2B2C* models. Edtech companies in these markets are more likely to have learners paying for their experience, to function independently of established schools, and to not receive funding from government programs. To succeed in this market, edtech companies must master the art of selling to individual students and families.
*B2B2C models are those in which Edtech companies partner with other businesses to offer a product to consumers. Common B2B2C models include working with universities to sell online courses to learners, working with employers to offer additional (paid) education services to employees, or even working with schools to offer additional (paid) education services to parents or learners.
2. Focus on Solutions Over Features
In emerging Asian markets, edtech companies need to build and sell a real solution instead of a plethora of nice-to-have features. In these markets, human services costs are often far lower than in developed markets, and fully built services that involve human interactions in the learning process are often affordable and preferred over one-off tech features or other more fragmented offerings. In other words, if your product doesn’t offer something comparable or better than a local expert, you might want to dive deeper.
3. Tutoring, Test Prep, and Language Learning
In terms of market segments, there is a strong focus on tutoring, test prep and language learning segments in emerging Asian markets.
This contrasts with North American markets, which tend to focus on workforce development, skilling, and management systems.
This difference in the market segments might result from the differences in cultural values and education systems that exist between different countries and regions.
These differences are reflected in the HolonIQ Edtech 1000, in which a significantly higher percentage of companies come from the Tutoring/Test Prep and Language Learning categories.
Tutoring & Test Prep
Southeast Asia (9/50) - 14%
East Asia (16/150) - 12%
North America (11/200) - 5%
Europe (7/200) - 3.5%
Language Learning
Southeast Asia (7/50) - 14%
East Asia (19/150) - 13%
Europe (13/200) - 6%
North America (8/200) - 4%
Standout Companies To Watch
The EdTech Asia Summit convened hundreds of innovative edtech companies from across the Asia Pacific region, reflecting the diversity and breadth of the industry across emerging and developed markets. From AI-powered tutors and coding bootcamps to professional development, the summit highlighted exciting edtech companies using technology to transform learning.
Some of the companies that particularly caught our attention:
Amy.app is a New Zealand-based AI-based private tutor for Math that provides learners feedback and automatically fills their knowledge gaps as they learn. As Math is a hierarchical subject, Amy makes it easy for learners to identify gaps in their Math knowledge and provides feedback and suggestions accordingly.
Elsa is an AI-powered English tutor that can help learners improve their English speaking and communication skills. The company started in Vietnam’s market and has been growing steadily across various markets such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. The advancement of AI has allowed the company to develop features such as role-playing and add more human characteristics to the technology.
Keypath Education is a global Edtech company that partners with the world’s leading educators to deliver over 200+ online degrees. Though the company has developed into many different types of products, its mission to provide world-class education to those who might not otherwise have access still stays true to today.
EdgeTutor is a Philippines-based company that has spun out of Edukasyon.ph to focus on delivering an exceptional online tutoring service. The north star of the company is to focus on the quality of the process of sourcing, screening, training, and retaining tutors.
Doyobi is a Singapore-based company focusing on providing 21st-century skills for students in primary school, middle school, and high school through learning journeys on the Metaverse.
Curieous is a Vietnam-based company that provides an AI-powered app to help people write better on the Internet.
Leverage Edu is an Indian-based company that provides a counseling product that helps students navigate and assess their study abroad journey and match them to personalized mentors.
Hacktiv8 is an Indonesia-based leading coding boot camp that turns absolute beginners into job-ready developers.
Kinobi is a Singapore-based digital career platform helping 200 million young people in Asia job explore, job prep, and job switch.
THINK learning studio designs conditions for real-world learning in every classroom, school, and community. The company has adapted the Changemakers® curriculum -- originally developed for THINK Global School, the world’s first traveling high school -- into a set of tools and methodologies that empower all types of educators to bring project-based learning to their students—regardless of location, age, economic status, or learning ability.
Classin is a Singapore-based company that provides a one-stop solution to all learning and management needs: LMS, Interactive Blackboard, Cloud Storage, Assignment, and Grading... The company operates in China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Egyp and the US.
General Edtech Trends in Asia for 2024
Conference presenters and attendees talked about these trends for the coming year:
Digital upskilling at scale with multi-geography platforms
Global university brands pushing into emerging markets
The continuous rise of after-school tutoring and test prep
Growth in interest-based enrichment categories, though scalability will remain a challenge
Growth of digital content and services in schools
Generative AI in Education
While the use of GenAI in education has not yet been as widespread in Asia as compared to the US, it’s definitely top of mind for everyone as 2024 is right around the corner. The emerging use cases for GenAI in education that were highlighted at the conference include:
Content creation
Intelligent search and stakeholder engagement
Teaching assistance
Assessment and diagnostics
Adaptive learning and automation
We will be using the adoption of Generative AI for not only students but also educators, researchers, and institutions.
For students, we have been seeing the application of Generative AI in these cases:
Intelligent speech synthesis to enhance pronunciation
AI-based writing tools essays, speech, etc.
Text summarization
Difficult concepts’ simplification
Personalization in the learning programs
For educators, we have been seeing the application of Generative AI in these cases:
Generation of quiz questions, sample problems, and assignments
Development of interactive content for lesson plans
Automated and personalized grading and assessments
For researchers, we have been seeing the application of Generative AI in these cases:
Generation of hypotheses and experiment designs
Intelligent search on research papers
Video-based simulations for experiments
For institutions, we have been seeing the application of Generative AI in these cases:
Generation of content for marketing, blogs, etc.
Chatbots for answering students and parents’ queries
AI-powered teaching assistants
Automated administrative tasks
The AI + EDU Conference
Thank you to all who joined us at The AI + EDU Conference! We had so much fun discussing the most pressing edtech topics with you all, and witnessing community building happening in real time! During this unforgettable event, we had:
12 Sessions
43 Edtech Speakers
512 Attendees
35+ Countries Represented
WOW! We couldn’t have done this without you and the rest of our incredible edtech community! Read below for a few post-conference takeaways, and stay tuned for some additional recaps and transcripts that will be coming out soon!
Watch Conference Replays
You can watch replays of the conference on our YouTube channel! Go back and re-watch your favorite sessions, or send to friends who weren’t able to join us on the day of the event.
Send Us Your Feedback
If you joined us at the conference, we would love to hear from you! Complete our quick survey so we can make the next conference even more amazing.
Earn the AI + EDU Credential
If you attended 7+ sessions at the conference (or want to watch them on Youtube!), we’ve got a LinkedIn-ready AI + EDU credential for you on Readocracy! Confirm your attendance by answering a few questions at the link!
Special Thanks to Our Sponsors
We couldn’t have made this conference happen without the support of our incredible sponsors.
Special shoutout to AWS, Magic Edtech, and Tuck Advisors for making this day possible!
This edition of the Edtech Insiders Newsletter is sponsored by Tuck Advisors.
Tuck Advisors is a trusted name in education M&A. Founded by serial entrepreneurs with over 25 years of experience starting, investing in, and selling companies, we believe founders deserve M&A advisors who work as hard as they do. If you receive any UFO's™, unsolicited flattering offers, be sure to reach out to us at confidential@tuckadvisors.com. We can help you determine if it's a hoax or if it's real.
Recent Edtech Insiders Podcast Episodes
We have had some amazing guests on The Edtech Insiders Podcast in the last few weeks. Make sure to check out our recent episodes, including:
Yvonne Soh and Jim Wagstaff, Co-Founders of Noodle Factory an AI-powered teaching and learning platform based in Singapore.
Paul Morales and Jordan Adair of the AI-based proctoring platform Honorlock.
Rebecca Kantar, VP and Head of Education at Roblox.
Funding, Mergers, and Acquisitions
Our latest reporting on funding, mergers, and acquisitions comes from Matt Tower’s publication Edtech Thoughts. Matt does an incredible job of covering the latest funding, news, industry updates, and more! If you love Edtech Insiders, be sure to subscribe to Matt’s newsletter as well.
Funding
Noon raises $41M / Saudi Arabia, Tutoring / Wa’ed Ventures, Raed Ventures, STV, SVC, Riyadh Valley Company, Endeavor, Sanabil 500, Qyem Development Holding, Nahlat Alarab Holding
Spotted Zebra raises £7.7M / UK, Skills-based Hiring / Nauta Capital, Act Venture Capital, Playfair, Entrepreneur First
Shakers raises €6M / Spain, Team Collaboration / Adevinta Ventures, Brighteye Ventures, Athos Capital, Wayra
Earlybird raises $4.5M / US, Tax Planning (including 529s) / IDEO Ventures, 776 Ventures, Fiat Ventures, RareBreed Ventures, ResilienceVC, Sweater Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Wintrust Bank, Parallel
Skillstrust raises €1M / Ireland, Hiring Simulations / Rethink Education, Emerge
Klassroom raises $450K / India, School Infrastructure / Ah! Ventures, Meteor Ventures
Norrsken22 raises $205M / Africa-focused, Growth Stage
Slooh raises $5M / US, Curriculum Materials / Connecticut Innovations
Sidebar raises $13.55M / US, Peer Mentorship / Foundation Capital, Scribble Ventures
Poppins raises €8M / France, Special Education / Eurazeo, Verve Ventures, Allianz France, HEC Ventures
Rocket Tutor raises €1M / Germany, Tutoring / Better Ventures, Caesar Ventures
Pack raises €500K / Italy, Corporate Mentorship / Techstars
Crafty Workshop raises $400K / Egypt, Consumer Upskilling Platform / EdVentures
Acquisitions
Instructure acquires Parchment for ~$800M / US, LMS (Credentialing)
FullBloom acquires EmpowerU / US, Student Support Services
Vector Solutions acquires PATHWAYos / US, Work-based Learning Content
Bibliu acquires Texas Book Company / UK (US), Curriculum Materials Platform
Rise In acquires Blockbeam / US, Bootcamps (Blockchain)
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