---
title: Mapping the future of edtech innovation
---

This week: mapping global edtech, Europe's new edtech decacorn, Chinese tutoring and parent-teacher tech.

| View in browser NOVEMBER 13, 2021 Welcome to Dealroom Edtech Introducing the first Dealroom monthly edtech newsletter! Subscribe here for updates. Tell a friend!   I’m Carla, edtech specialist at Dealroom and I’ll be writing every month about key news and events from the startups reshaping the global edtech sector, taking a deep dive each month into Dealroom rich data on the sector to identify important and sometimes counterintuitive trends.   Mapping the future of edtech innovation The last two years laid bare how essential edtech is for the future of education. But edtech is also still at a very early stage of development. In 2021 so far the global VC investment into edtech startups reached $18B, up from $5.4B five years ago.    In a year when China’s crackdown dominated headlines, we also witnessed the rise of emerging regions. Europe ranks now as one of the fastest growing regions when compared to the other three leading Edtech hubs (China, the US, and India), reaching $1.9B so far in 2021, up 2x vs 2020.    While edtech has been widely adopted since early 2020, one of the hurdles undermining its development is the lack of common understanding and mapping of the industry. That’s why we are excited to launch the platform dedicated to the edtech ecosystem in partnership with Brighteye Ventures, Europe’s learning edtech venture capital fund.   This comprehensive platform provides global intelligence and trusted insights into edtech startups & scaleups, investments, investors, and beyond across the edtech ecosystem. The open-access nature of the platform makes it an ideal tool to foster collaborations between startups, investors and ecosystem builders. Explore the ecosystem   In other news 💼 A recent Brighteye Ventures market analysis takes a look into organizations offering solutions for training, coaching and mentoring to the professional segment. Check out a landscape of 60+ coaching and mentoring startups.   📉Chinese tutoring companies struggle to reinvent themselves. A mandate by the Chinese government announced in July banned for-profit tutoring of core school subjects impacting investors and some of the most valued Edtech companies. With new regulations underway, companies will be required to operate after-school tutoring on a non-profit basis and limited to a price cap on the fee charged for each after-school tutoring class. Will Chinese tutoring services survive in the new landscape? Only time will tell.   💥When the world’s most valued Edtech company makes a move, we ought to take a closer look. Early this month, BYJU’S announced the launch of ‘BYJU’S Lab’, a new research and development hub that will work towards solving the unique challenges of bringing AI to the classroom. “Edtech is one of the slowest adopters of AI so far, compared to some of the other industries out there,” said Dev Roy, BYJU’s chief innovation and learning officer. Explore 40+ immersive tech edtech startups.   Latest edtech deals: The largest this month:   🇨🇳 BYJU’s raised $400M, topping up its $1.6B series F round. The new round gives the company a valuation of $18.5B. BYJU’s plans to use its proceeds to expand its overseas operations.    🇺🇦🇺🇸 Ukraine-founded Grammarly raised a $200M Late VC round at a $13B valuation. Grammarly is the fifth edtech startup to reach the decacorn status globally (and the first European-born).   🇸🇬 Online learning platform Bright Camps raised a $63M Late VC round.    🇺🇸 Goalsetter raised a $15M Series A to go B2B with its children’s financial literacy app. The company plans to sell its white version of the platform to other financial institutions. Good time to check our recent ‘Fintech for kids – Generation Alpha and beyond’ blog post.   🇨🇦 Parent-teacher communication platform Himama raised a $55M Series B. The funding will allow the company to continue to develop its childcare app and establish a foundation for growth aimed for a future acquisition.   🇨🇳 Chinese online course platform Sanjieke raised $30M a Series C. Backers included VC firm Owl Ventures and edtech giant Udemy.   Other notable edtech deals:    🇬🇧 Female led Framework raised a $2M seed round to create an “on-demand business school”. The company says it has more than 2,500 people on its waitlist ahead of the platform launch next year.   🇫🇷 Paris-born 360Learning raised a $200M Late VC from Sumeru, SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and Silver Lake Waterman. Existing investors Bpifrance’s Large Venture fund, XAnge and Educapital also participated.The corporate design learning platform enables businesses to create and manage their own training courses for their employees.   🇩🇪 Digital tool StudySmarter closed a $15M extension of its Series A round.    🇯🇴 Tutoring startup Abwaab raised a $20M Series A round. The company experienced 10x growth in the number of active users between the 2020-21 academic year.    🇮🇳 Educator-led parenting app Guardians Collective raised a $3.5M seed round to make parenting easier and more collaborative. The platform connects families with early childhood educators to give parents the answers and support they need.   🇩🇰 Danish Female Invest, a learning platform that educates women about personal finance and investing, raised a $4.5M seed round backed by Vaekstfonden, 10x Value Partners, Green Visor Capital, New Theory Ventures, and Jeppe Christiansen.   Read up on all the latest edtech deals in Dealroom.co.   Notable exits:   🇬🇧 London-based language learning Busuu has been acquired by tutoring and scholastic materials startup Chegg for $436M to expand to international markets. Prior to the exit, Busuu had only raised $16M in VC funding. This marks Chegg’s 17th acquisition (and 3rd in Europe).    🇮🇹 Creative coworking and an internal educational institution operator Talent Garden acquired Swedish Hyper Island for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will see Talent Garden taking a controlling stake in Hyper Island, and it will result in a group with an extended geographic footprint across 12 European countries.   🇦🇹 Austria-headquartered startup GeoGebra was acquired by BYJU’s for a deal size of about $100M. This marks BYJU’s 10th acquisition this year, and the first in Europe. GeoGebra’s products will be integrated into BYJU’s offerings with the goal of making “math more engaging” for students.   Read up on all the latest edtech exits in Dealroom.co   Job opportunities   Ornikar, an online driving school, is hiring for 28 positions across sectors, including Growth Product Manager and Head of Product.   StudyTube, a learning platform that inspires and facilitates employee development, is hiring for 69 roles, including Head of Sales and Business Development, Account Executive and Head of Product Marketing.   Docebo, cloud 'e-learning as a service' platform that enables companies to deliver, track and certify online training to their staff, is hiring for 89 positions across Toronto, Milan and Amsterdam. Discover +60K jobs openings at edtech startups (login for full results)     Tip of the week   Within the advanced filters for funding rounds, you can now explore how much investment the startups in an investor portfolio are cashing in. This is a handy feature to provide deeper analysis for success of accelerators, government grant programs or other investors. Brighteye Ventures’ edtech portfolio has raised €185M in 2021, up 6.8x from last year, led by Ornikar’s Series C, Genial.ly and Ironhack Series B.   Dive in   💰 Financial edtech for kids and teens 📖 Language learning landscape 🦄 New edtech unicorns announced in 2021 🤝 Coaching and mentoring landscape   Knowledge partners   Carla Napoleão Innovation Analyst Dealroom.co About this newsletter   This is Dealroom's monthly edtech newsletter.  You can subscribe here to get more industry-specific intelligence on the evolving world of edtech, expert insights on education, training, skills, and more.  Dealroom.co, Cornelis Dirkszstraat 27-2, 1056 TP, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Unsubscribe Manage preferences |
| --- |