Student loans startups: coming of age

The cost of higher education has been on an expensive upward trend for decades, making access and affordability of education financing more in demand than ever.

Regardless of geography or degree type, most students rely on student loans and financial aid programs to attain third-level education. In the last decade, degree costs have increased by 14%, while the inflation-adjusted debt for four-year university student’s debt increased by 45% in the same period, making student debt relief an issue pressing enough for President Joe Biden to take “a hard look at.”

As the costs of higher education soar, a new wave of startups have emerged to tackle private and federal student funding options.

We mapped over 90 startups tackling student financing, from debt marketplaces and scholarship search aggregation to employer-student loan assistance and more. Explore today by clicking the button below. 👇

In other news

🌱 New research by Skills Nation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, made with the support of Dealroom data, takes a deep dive into the state of Edtech in 6 countries in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam). Key developments happening in the space:

• Of the 342 edtech companies in the region, only 1/3 are funded. With 70% of these funded edtech companies being at the seed stage, this region has great potential.
• Singapore is by far the biggest edtech hub, home to 70% of all companies headquartered in the region.

📊 You can download the full report here! 👈

📘 Fundraising in a Downturn (State Of The Market Q2 22) -  Brighteye Ventures. This guide aims to help founders navigate the current market downturn.

🔒 Intel calls its AI that detects student emotions a teaching tool. Others call it 'morally reprehensible.' - Protocol. Virtual classroom startup Class Technologies is testing Intel's "emotion AI" tech that claims to detect bored, distracted, or confused students. Cybersecurity and the excess of student surveillance and privacy invasions remain one of the top concerns for educators and advocacy groups.

🤝 We entered a new partnership with Singapore Education Network (SEN). Our data and intelligence will be used to track edtech startups & scaleups across the Southeast Asia edtech ecosystem. You can subscribe to Singapore Education Network’s newsletter to keep track of these monthly updates. 

SEN is a network of Education professionals & organizations in Singapore and Asia, with more than 1.5K individual members. Their membership gives you access to a community of education professionals and organizations in Singapore and Asia. You can learn more about their membership here.

Latest edtech deals

 The largest deals from the last month:

🇧🇷 🇺🇸 Mosyle, a software designed to streamline Apple device management, raised a $196M Series B. In case you missed it, Dealroom analyzed and mapped 50 startups revolutionizing educational technology for teachers and administrators.

🇺🇸 Masterschool, a startup offering programs that comprise personal mentorship and professional guidance, raised a $100M Seed round – the biggest seed round in edtech to date. The funding had participation from Target Global, Pitango Ventures, Dynamic Loop Capital, Sir Ronald Cohen and a number of additional strategic investors.

🇺🇸 Studio, provider of a 30-day online course for lifelong learning, raised a $50M Series B. 

🇺🇸 🇺🇦 Preply, an online language learning platform offering online tutoring in a wide range of languages, raised a $49.5M Late VC round.

🇩🇰 Labster, an interactive, virtual science platform that offers laboratory simulations for medical students, raised a $47M Late VC round.

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

Other notable edtech deals:

🇪🇸 Smowltech, an automated online proctoring solution, raised a $1.8M seed round.

Dealroom is tracking 60+ cybersecurity solutions companies targeting education. 

🇦🇷 Argentinian tech academy Henry raised a $10M Series A with participation from Kayyak Ventures, Seaya & Cathay, Amarena, DILA Capital, Accion Venture Lab, among others.

🇬🇧 Immersive workforce learning startup The Moon Hub raised a $2.6M Seed round, led by Pi Labs, with participation from Ada Ventures, 1818 Venture Capital and numerous angel investors.

🇹🇼 Hahow, a Taiwan-based online learning platform providing courses across diverse media formats, raised a $10M Series B. 

🇺🇸 Ellis, a platform intended to facilitate banking services for international students going to the United States, raised $5.6M in Seed funding.

🇪🇬 Sprints, an Egyptian startup that aims to bridge the tech talent gap in MENA, raised a $1.2M Seed round. The startup provides users aged between 18 and 35 with a customized learning journey to advance their careers in software.

Notable exits:

🇺🇸 EON Reality, a developer of XR (VR, AR and MR) educational experiences, became the 3rd edtech SPAC in a $104M SPAC IPO. 

🇦🇺 Australian Go1 acquired corporate learning provider Coorpacademy for an undisclosed amount.

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

Tip of the month

On the Startup & Scaleups tab, you can filter for startups founded by founders that graduated from top universities. Currently, there are 205 edtech startups with founders from top universities that have received less than $1M funding since 2017. 30 edtech unicorns were founded by founders from top universities.

Job opportunities

🇩🇪 The mobile coaching for managers company Sharpist is hiring a Senior Backend Engineer in Berlin, and 25 other roles.

🇳🇱 60+ jobs at Amsterdam based edtech startups like Lepaya and Wizenoze.

👩🏻‍💻 Dealroom.co is hiring for 12 positions, including a Research Analyst (US), Software Test Engineer and Business Development Representative.

Discover +19K jobs openings at edtech startups(login for full results)

Dive in

​​📈 21,000+ edtech startups and 14,000+ funding rounds: https://edtech.dealroom.co/

👩‍🏫 Upgrading the classroom

💸 Most active investors by number of edtech rounds invested in the last 3 months

Knowledge partners

Carla Napoleão

Innovation Analyst
Dealroom.co

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