As our social media timelines begin to fill up with pictures of friends and family on holiday, it’s heartening (after the last two years) to see that things are perhaps slowly beginning to return to normality. That’s certainly further reinforced in Northern Europe, where schools in some countries have already reopened for the new school year.
We’ve deliberately kept this newsletter short and sweet, filling you in on recent development across European Edtech but not detaining you from another cocktail for too long! We’ll be back with a full summer round-up when the next issue of European Edtech News hits inboxes on 15th September 2021. Cheers!
The European Edtech Alliance would love to hear your feedback on this newsletter, so please just reply to this email or comment below. Please also share it with your networks and across social media. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter here.
Thank you for reading and enjoy the rest of your holidays!
Produced by the team at the European Edtech Alliance.
NEWS FROM OUR MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS
FUND-RAISING
99math’s $1million raise will help launch a paid-for version of their product for parents and further expand reach in the US. (Link)
Berlin-based bina (a “digital primary education ecosystem”) secured $1.4m to expand their team and bolster R+D. (Link)
Develhope, an Italian developer education platform, generated €2m in a raise led by CDP Venture Capital. (Link)
Polish Edtech startup Novakid, an online language learning platform, has raised €29.4 million in a Series B round led by Owl Ventures and Goodwater Capital. (Link)
PowerZ, a French startup, has raised a further $8.3 million for its education-focused video game. (Link)
K-12
Education Alliance Finland is working with governments to improve Edtech quality control. (Link)
Edumus, an Estonian Edtech, is placing expert volunteers in schools to tackle teacher shortages. (Link)
Update on Germany’s Project “Schultransform” as the next crucial phase starts. (Link)
Ludovia, one of the biggest EdTech events in Europe, takes place next week. Bringing together teachers, public decision-makers and edtech companies in the South of France. This year’s theme is "EdTechs : are they social or not ?" (Link)
Sanoma Learning, the education business of the Helsinki-based media group, announced a strong increase in net sales in H1 2021 - €217m vs €173m in 2020 (Link).
Texthelp Ltd, the global leader in literacy and accessibility technology, has completed the acquisition of Nordic Edtech company, Wizkids (Link).
POST SECONDARY
Alpha Test has acquired Edtech startup Boolean Careers to create a “digital-focused European hub.” (Link)
HEI Schools and SEGi University and Colleges sign an agreement to bring Finnish Early Childhood Education Studies to Malaysia. (Link)
LIFELONG LEARNING
4Books, a self-improvement learning platform with bite-sized content, have secured a €2.4m investment from P101 and Startupitalia. (Link)
CORPORATE LEARNING
CyberGuru, a Milan-based cyber security awareness training platform, raised €3.6M in Series A funding to further product development and scale internationally across Europe. (Link)
Fondo per la Ricerca e L'innovazione invested €2.2m to acquire 27.5% of VRMedia, whose AR technology is used by 60 global companies. (Link)
OTHER MEMBER UPDATES
Great insights on the French Edtech market from EdTech France and the VC fund, SpeedInvest. Looking at what happens to the Edtech industry post-Covid. (Link)
Kide Science (Finland) and Tomorrow’s Education (Germany) have been named finalists in the 2021 TTI Global Impact Awards in Education & Media category. Good luck! (Link)
Five Edtech startups enter the first research accelerator for Edtech in Sweden. It’s a joint pilot between Educate, Swedish Edtest and the Swedish Edtech Industry. (Link)
The Helsinki Education Hub – a flywheel for Edtech startups plus a new physical and virtual space - will open soon in Finland. (Link)
Until August 31st all Edtech StartUps can apply for the Global EdTech Startup Awards. Fill out your application right here!
If you’re looking to top up on your strategy, sales and storytelling knowledge, then apply now to the free Story Cube & Jisc Edtech Sprint, starting online on 8 September. (Link)
Supercharger Ventures Cohort 3.0 generated 335 applicants from 60 countries, with a notable increase in EdTech using AI. The programme starts on Sept 20th. Email maddalena@superchargerventures.com to access their cohort presentation.
The SuperCharger EdTech MOOC passed 100k learners and filming for Chapter 1 is now complete. You still can register your interest to participate by emailing alessandro@superchargerventures.com
This newsletter is written and produced by the European Edtech Alliance. The European Edtech Alliance is a consortium of national trade associations and clusters working with founders and providers of education technology (Edtech), to support the domestic and international growth of these businesses and the innovations they represent.