The rise of online tutoring

The pandemic created the biggest forced experiment in education in generations. As schools and universities shuttered the world over, edtech was hailed at the plug and play answer to isolation learning. The reality, however, is that the adoption of full-remote or hybrid learning environments has not been seamless. 

In the US, by the end of the 2020-21 school year, K-12 students were on average five months behind in math and four months behind in reading. This difference is even more significant in students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds (McKinsey).

Broad consensus would say that digital tools can never replace personal schooling, but as parents, educators and governments look for the most effective and scalable ways to boost student engagement and catch up students on missed learning, tutoring solutions are uniquely suited to tackle the educational challenges in a post-Covid era, and take advantage of an $8T opportunity.

Online tutoring is a massive market, and it includes one-to-one or one-to-many tutoring classes, gamified apps and test/exam prep solutions. We’ve mapped and analyzed 50+ online tutoring startups across the globe. 

In other news

🗓️ Join us on January 27th to hear the key insights from Brighteye’s European Edtech Funding Report 2021, followed by a panel discussion featuring Marie Taquet (iconoClass), Felix Ohswald (GoStudent), Alex Spiro Latsis (Partner at Brighteye), Thomas Singlehurst (Citi), and Carla Napoleão (Dealroom), moderated by Freya Pratty (Sifted). Grab your seat.

📉 The death of Edtech IPOs? Sector rotations and stock declines from LTM highs - Medium post. Have a read on founder and entrepreneur Christopher Nyren take on why US education stocks are off to a rocky start in 2022 and why they are actually in line with the other sector declines.

🌎 Deciding where to expand - Brighteye Ventures. After a first piece about when to expand, Brighteye Ventures provides a five-step guide to support founders in making an informed decision about which markets to expand.

⚖️ Federal lawsuit accuses 16 elite universities of fixing prices and courting wealthy families - CBS News. This NPR podcast episode dives into the lawsuit and what it means for American students and families. Interested in education finance? Together with Lorenzo Chiavarini, Fintech specialist at Dealroom, we’re tracking these solutions and will provide a dedicated deep-dive soon.

🇪🇺 The EU’s university strategy is a good start – but more is needed - Times Higher Education. After more than two years in the making, the European Commission’s European Strategy for Universities is out. The strategy focuses on two foundations: universities as central to address Europe’s fundamental challenges, such as the skill gap in the workforce; and collaboration as a central strategy to strengthen European universities.

Latest edtech deals:

The largest the last month:

🇮🇳 India-based Lead has become the first Edtech unicorn of 2022. The startup raised a $100M Series E round at a $1.1B valuation led by GSV and WestBridge Capital. Lead is the sixth Indian Edtech startup to reach unicorn status.

🇦🇹 Austrian unicorn GoStudent raised a $340M Series D round at a $3.5B valuation. The fresh round comes only seven months after the company reached its unicorn status. The round was led by Deutsche Telekom, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tencent, Dragoneer, Left Lane Capital and Coatue.

🇺🇸 Handshake, a career recruiting platform for college students and universities used by more than 20 million candidates and 1,400 education providers, raised a $200M Series F round at a $3.5B valuation.

🇺🇸 Course Hero, an online learning platform for course-specific study resources, raised $380M Series C round at a $3.6B valuation, led by Wellington Management with participation from new investors Sequoia Capital Global Equities, OMERS Growth Equity and D1 Capital Partners, as well as existing investors including, GSV Ventures, NewView Capital, SuRo Capital, TPG and Valiant Peregrine Fund. More on it here.

Other notable edtech deals: 

🇳🇱 Upskilling corporate learning startup Leyapa raised a $40M Series B led by Target Global with participation from existing investors Mediahuis Ventures and Tablomonto and various angel investors. Good time to revisit our Dutch edtech landscape made in partnership with our partners Dutch Edtech.

🇺🇸 Uwill, a mental health and wellness solution for colleges and students, raised a $5.3M round led by strategic angels. The company has reported 600% growth in clients and 2400% in revenue growth over the past year and now serves more than 600,000 students in US universities. 

🇳🇬 Lagos- and London-based Edukoya, which builds online education content and offers online tutoring to K-12, raised a pre-seed $3.5M round led by Target Global. Founded in 2021, the startup has recently launched this month in beta, and it plans to go live fully in 2022. More on it here.

🇫🇷 Marmelade, a learning professional training app, raised a $2.9M Early VC round led by Brighteye Ventures.

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

Notable exits:

🇺🇸 Everfi, a Saas startup that delivers engaging digital resources to teachers and corporates, was acquired for $750M by Blackbaud. 

🇺🇸 Codeacademy, an online learning platform for technical skills, was acquired by Skillsoft for $525M.

🇬🇧 Looop, a learning management system startup, was acquired by 360Learning for $20M.

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

Tip of the month

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Carla Napoleão

Innovation Analyst
Dealroom.co

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