Cyber protection startups boosting education's defenses 🔒

Cyber protection is increasingly becoming a priority for education agencies and policymakers.

As schools utilize edtech services and tech, the risk of cyberattacks has also grown. Studies show ransomware attacks against education increased from 6% in 2019 to 15% in 2020, whereas healthcare increased from 21% to 23% during the same period. 

It comes as no surprise that Education is consecutively the most affected industry by number of reported enterprise malware encounters, with over 7M reported in the last 30 days. In the startup world, Edtech startups such as Chegg and Illuminate Education are facing scrutiny over recent cyberattacks. 

There are a growing number of cyber protection startups helping schools and corporates increase their cybersecurity awareness. A few examples cyber protection usage for education per age group:

• K-12: Securly is a web-filtering platform for school computers to help students and children to navigate to surf the web safely and securely.
• Corporates: Immersive Labs helps organizations assess, build, and prove their cyber workforce resilience by providing simulations and hands-on cybersecurity labs
• Lifelong and consumer learning: Hack the Box is a cybersecurity training platform for individuals, businesses and universities helping to upskill talent in cybersecurity.

We've mapped 60+ cyber protection edtech startups. Together, these startups have raised over $465M in 2022 so far, up from $98M in 2021. The largest rounds this year have been: Mosyle (device management), ThriveDX (reskilling), and SoSafe (cyber security awareness platform).

💡 Recommended reading: UK Cyber Security Ecosystem in 2022 (report)

In edtech news:

🤖 Anti-cheating education software braces for AI chatbots. In the last weeks, OpenAI's latest chatbot, ChatGPT, has taken the internet by storm.  What does it mean for Education? Teachers fear that ChatGPT will make cheating easier than ever. Meanwhile, OpenAI is working to 'watermark' AI-generated content. - Bloomberg

🔮 2023 state of edtech fundraising Transcend. Recently the Transcend newsletter summarized the stage of Edtech fundraising ahead of the new year. The piece references Dealroom's piece about Edtech exits ('Edtech exits are dropping out'). - Transcend

🥶 Edtech’s brightest are struggling to pass. Recent layoffs in the largest venture-backed Edtech businesses, including BloomTech, Vedantu, Teachmint, Reforge, Coursera, Unacademy, Byju’s, Udacity and Brainly. - Techcrunch

Latest edtech deals

The largest deals of the last few weeks:

🇰🇷 Mathpresso, a mobile math learning platform for K-12 students, raised a $70M Series C round from YBM and Signite Partners. Previous backers including Goodwater Capital, SoftBank Ventures Asia, and Mirae Asset Venture Investment also participated in the round.

🇸🇪 AI-powered learning platform Sana raised a $34M Series B from by Menlo Ventures and EQT Ventures.

🇮🇳 Uolo, a communication platform for schools,  raised a $22.5 M Series A round from Winter Capital,  Morphosis Venture Capital, and Blume Ventures.

🇺🇸 BetterManager, a leadership development platform providing coaching for managers, raised a $16M Series A round by Education Growth Partners and Polar Capital Group. 

🇨🇭Swiss edtech company Avallain raised a $8M Early VC round by Round2 Capital. The company develops a SaaS platform which enables businesses to launch branded digital learning experiences. 

🇬🇧 London-based Makers raised a $8.6M Early VC round by BGF, Forward Partners and Educapital. The startup offers training in the area of software development. 

🇫🇷 K-12 educational platform EvidenceB raised a $4M Series A round from  Educapital, IRD Group, Finorpa, and  Zanichelli Venture. 

Other notable edtech deals: 

🇮🇳 Virtual reality edtech startup Ixrlabs raised a $800K Seed round by an undisclosed angel investor. The startup develops immersive and engaging learning experiences in the classroom aiming to prepare students for the real-life workplace environment. 

🇩🇪 Silber Salon, a learning platform aiming to make it easier for older adults to navigate through the increasingly digital world, raised a $1M Seed round from IBB Ventures, FJ Labs, WestTech Ventures. 

💡 We recommend revising Brightetye Ventures' deep dive about 'Learning for the over 50s'.

Read up on all the latest edtech deals in Dealroom.co.

Notable exits:

🇺🇸 McGraw Hill acquired Boards & Beyond, a provider of on-demand video libraries and comprehensive online resources for medical students, for an undisclosed amount. 

🇳🇱 Global University Systems acquired FutureLearn for an undisclosed amount. 

🇦🇹 GoStudent acquired Studienkreis for an undisclosed amount. This is GoStudent's 4th acquisition. 

Read up on all the latest edtech exits in Dealroom.co.

Tip of the week

UK Cyber Security Report 2022

One of the UK’s most geographically distributed startup sectors has been bucking global startup trends in 2022. Made in partnership with Cyber Exchange, Dealroom's latest report explores the growth of the UK Cyber Security Ecosystem in 2022.

2022 has been a record year for UK Cyber security startups:

• UK Cyber security startups are now worth $30B, a 7.6x increase since 2017, growing faster than the top Cyber ecosystems worldwide including US, China, the EU and Israel.
• UK Cyber security startups have raised $607M so far in 2022, more than the previous record set in 2021. 

Explore the full report below 👇

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🏫 Financial education for kids & teens

📖 Brighteye x Dealroom: The evolution of Edtech: Activity in private and public markets

Knowledge partners

Carla Napoleão

Innovation Analyst
Dealroom.co

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