Number 4 - September 2021 European Edtech Alliance update
News from the world of European Edtech
After a relaxing summer, Edtech in Europe has certainly returned with a bang in September! There’s lots happening across the continent but this latest edition of European Edtech News contains all you need to know!
This newsletter is a key part of the European Edtech Alliance’s mission to support the Edtech sector’s stellar growth. Connecting and strengthening the pan-European Edtech innovation ecosystem is a key part of that work, so we’re delighted to announce the publication of a new benchmark report reviewing the work of national governments (and our members) in this space.
The report identifies a wide variety of ways in which European governments are developing the structures needed to support education and Edtech. Although much has already been achieved, our member associations continue to work with public and private sector partners to build a sustainable, post-pandemic European Edtech ecosystem. You can read the report in full here and let us know your thoughts on the key next steps by replying to this email.
Creating this ecosystem will help sustain European Edtech’s supercharged growth of the last two years. The latest rocket ship is Babbel, who announced plans earlier this month to list on the Frankfurt stock exchange. The German language learning app and online learning platform is looking to raise more than €180 million euros ($214 million) through a planned IPO later this year (Link).
Babbel joins the likes of Brainly (Poland), GoStudent (Austria), Ornikar (France) and Multiverse (UK) in raising what HolonIQ describe as “a never seen before cohort of European EdTechs closing $50M+ rounds in rapid succession.” As applications open for the 2021 Europe EdTech 100, all of the above are included in a fascinating review of how the 2020 cohort have progressed in the last 12 months.
HolonIQ’s annual Europe EdTech 100 recognises the most promising Edtech startups based in the region and “shines a light on the innovations occurring across the market.” Applications are now open - full details here.
Applications are also open for the Nordic-Baltic EdTech 50 (Link) and the Russia & CIS EdTech 100 (Link) for business located in those regions.
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.
The next issue of European Edtech News will be in subscribers’ inboxes on 13th October 2021.
Produced by the team at the European Edtech Alliance.
NEWS FROM OUR MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS
FUND-RAISING
Swedish B2C maths app Albert announces their intent to go public and registers on First North asking for a total of 300M SEK or €30M. (Link)
British VC Bridgepoint acquires 60% of Swedish lifelong learning Edtech TicTac Interactive. (Link)
The French Tech is booming and has set a new record - more than €5 billion has been raised since January 2021 by French startups. That's almost the same amount as was raised in the whole of 2020! (Link)
Spanish Edtech startup GoKoan, accelerated by SEK Lab, closes a €1.2 million seed investment round led by Sabadell Venture Capital. (Link)
Two significant Edtech funding rounds in Lithuania. Memby raises $1 million pre-seed (Link) and Turing College secures an additional $1.05 million in seed funding. (Link)
Tempus, a pre-school admin system from Sweden, confirms investment from Vitec (Link)
K-12
Sweden’s AcadeMedia Edtech invests in EdAider (Link)
Consolidation in the Austrian Edtech market as GoStudent acquires FoxEducation. (Link)
Finnish education companies (Eduten Playground, Code School Finland, GraphoGame and School Day) introduce new tech-based modules for the Finnish Experience Flagship School in Malaysia. (Link)
Kide Science starts a partnership with Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries, the UK’s largest childcare franchise. (Link)
Swedish literature app for K-3, Ugglo, has been acquired by ILT Education (Link) ILT also recently announced an expansion into Canada, the UK and the US. (Link)
POST SECONDARY
Getting back to University IRL has been hard in the French overseas territories because of Covid-19, so a majority of universities are going back to school online. (Link)
OTHER MEMBER UPDATES
Dutch Edtech will unveil their first Dutch Edtech Report at a virtual event on 23th September (Link). The report describes the national Edtech ecosystem in detail.
A high-level Edtech session took place as part of the European Forum Alpbach: “New work needs new learning – How can we shape the digital education revolution?” A recording of the event is available here.
Five Finnish Education companies have been nominated as finalists at the GESS 2021 Education Awards: Claned Group Oy, Isku Interior Oy, GraphoGame, Playvation Ltd / Moomin Language School and MoovKids. (Link)
The Helsinki Education Hub will host a grand virtual opening on 23rd September. (Link)
Institut Pasteur, the famous neuroscience research lab, has launched a dedicated incubator / accelerator programme for medtech and Edtech startups with a strong focus on neurosciences and learning disabilities. It is called “the Medtech generator & accelerator” and the goal is to help raise more than €250M in 4 years. (Link)
Representatives from EdTech Lithuania have started working on an advisory board for the government’s newly-formed Education Digitalisation Project. This aims to ensure that rapid development, public-partnerships, openness and impact are all brought to Lithuanian Education sector. (Link)
School Day confirm that Visma has acquired their Dashboard Service to support schools’ administration and management functions. (Link)
SEK Lab Edtech Accelerator has been the vertical leader at Startup Ole 21 event with 260 startups, 304 speakers and 120 participating countries. (Link)
UNICEF will launch a new innovation hub in Finland, focusing on “the development, testing and scaling of new solutions in the field of learning.” (Link)
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.