edtech
Lessons from Top Hat’s acquisition spree
Top Hat, a startup that digitizes textbooks and turns them into an interactive experience for college students, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired yet another business: Fountainhead Press. Th
Thimble teaches kids STEM skills with robotics kits combined with live Zoom classes
Parents with kids stuck learning at home during the pandemic have had to look for alternative activities to promote the hands-on learning experiences kids are missing out on due to attending class vir
The tech-powered wave of smart, not slow, tutoring sessions
Some of the biggest decision-makers in edtech are taking a scalpel to the way tutoring used to work.
Tappity raises $1.3M for its interactive and educational video library for kids
When kids today want to learn about a new topic they’re interested in, they’ll often turn to YouTube. But the quality of the educational content on the platform can be hit or miss, dependi
Chinese online education app Zuoyebang raises $1.6 billion from investors including Alibaba
The rivalry between China’s top online learning apps has become even more intense this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest company to score a significant funding round is Zuoyebang
Vista’s $3.5B purchase of Pluralsight signals a maturing edtech market
On Monday, Pluralsight, a Utah-based startup that sells software development courses to enterprises, announced that it has been acquired by Vista for $3.5 billion. The deal, yet to close, is one of th
Vista acquires IT education platform Pluralsight for $3.5B
The hectic M&A cycle we have seen throughout 2020 continued this weekend when Vista Equity Partners announced it was acquiring Pluralsight for $3.5 billion. That comes out to $20.26 per share. The
Duolingo CEO explains language app’s surge in bookings
Language learning apps, like many educational technology platforms, soared when millions of students went home in response to safety concerns from the coronavirus pandemic. It makes sense: Everyone be
Edtech investors are panning for gold
The spotlight on edtech grows brighter and harsher: On one end, remote-learning startups are attracting millions in venture capital. On the other, many educators and parents are unimpressed with the t
Why hasn’t digital learning lived up to its promise?
What is it about digital learning that has schools so keen on reopening despite the health and reputational risks?
Making sense of 3 edtech extension rounds
While venture capitalists are pouring funding into edtech startups, the surge of interest isn’t coming without pressure. Edtech companies are searching for new ways to tap into a booming market.
To reach scale, Juni Learning is building a full-stack edtech experience
Juni Learning connects kids with math and science tutors, but co-founder Vivian Shen would prefer not to be lumped in with other edtech startups, despite the sector’s pandemic-born boom. “We
Hear from experienced edtech investors on the market’s overnight boom at Disrupt 2020
Edtech’s reputation has been revitalized due to the coronavirus pandemic, which forced millions of students to adopt remote education overnight. But behind the scramble is a crop of investors who ha
Edtech exits are increasing, but by how much?
Before the coronavirus made edtech more relevant, companies in the sector were historically likely to see slow, low exits. Despite successful IPOs by 2U, Chegg and Instructure in the United States, pu
As the world stays home, edtech’s Q2 venture totals rose sharply
My friend and colleague Natasha Mascarenhas has been reporting on the edtech beat quite a lot in 2020. So far reading her coverage, I’ve discovered that not only is edtech less dull than I antic
Can learning pods scale, or are they widening edtech’s digital divide?
Lucia, a six-year old, hides from Zoom calls and has rejected every edtech tool from Seesaw to Khan Academy. She will spend all of first grade in quarantine. Her mother, Claire Díaz-Ortiz, says her d
Edtech startups flirt with unicorn-style growth
When Quizlet became a unicorn earlier this year, CEO Matthew Glotzbach said he’d prefer to distance the company from the common nomenclature for a startup valued at or above $1 billion. “The w
‘Edtech is no longer optional’: Investors’ deep dive into the future of the market
One reason some venture capitalists and founders don’t enter edtech is because the space has a sluggish stereotype, thanks to red tape, slow sales cycles, and, in America, a fragmented customer base
8 edtech investors talk re-skilling, digital universities, ISAs and other post-pandemic trends
We know that the coronavirus has brought unprecedented attention to the edtech market, but now what? What happens when schools are no longer clambering toward an overnight solution? When the surges sl
Edtech exits show a need for better plumbing
The world’s massive experiment with remote learning has done more than emphasize the cracks in the way we learn. It’s brought much needed attention and capital to potential solutions. But it’s n