Education
Brighteye Ventures sees $54M first close of its second fund to back edtech startups in Europe
Brighteye Ventures, the European edtech VC firm, is announcing the $54 million first close of its second fund, bringing total assets under management to over $112 million. Backing comes from…
Engageli comes out of stealth with $14.5M and a new approach to teaching by video remotely
Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet have become standard tools for teachers who have had to run lessons remotely since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But they’re not apps…
Learning how to ask questions is an essential skill for startup founders
As I interviewed founders about the most valuable learning resources that allowed them to grow into the leaders they are today, I realized that many leaned heavily on carefully-crafted approaches…
Teachers deserve two screens, and Two Screens for Teachers aims to get them just that
The pandemic has caused K-12 classrooms, chaotic at the best of times, to descend into Zoom call chaos. What’s more, thousands of teachers who must wrangle this new, weird system…
Kinspire’s new app helps parents find screen-free activities for kids
A new startup called Kinspire wants to make it easier for parents to find activities to help keep kids occupied — away from a screen. The app, which launches with…
Google to roll out its digital learning platform to 23 million students and teachers in India’s Maharashtra state
Google has partnered with one of the largest states in India to provide its digital classroom services to tens of millions of students and teachers, the search giant said today,…
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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 daughter fits squarely into the “distance learning death zone.” The idea is that younger children are too young to do distance…
Toppr raises $46 million to scale its online learning platform in India
Toppr, one of the largest online learning startups in India, has secured $46 million in a new financing round as it looks to scale its platform, including a new product.…
New York legislature votes to halt facial recognition tech in schools for two years
The state of New York voted this week to pause for two years any implementation of facial recognition technology in schools. The moratorium, approved by the New York Assembly and…
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‘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. But data suggests that edtech’s reputation is not entirely earned. Byju’s is India’s second-most-valuable company. Since 2013, there have been 300 acquisitions in…
Assessing the potential for a gig economy in education
The potential for advances in online learning to enable personalized learning experiences, both in terms of newer platforms and apps that help assess domain-specific knowledge, are much broader than we…
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…
Google said on Monday that it has partnered with CBSE, an Indian government body that oversees education in private and public schools in the country, to deliver by the end…
Apple expands its free coding courses and materials for educators
Apple today announced its plans for a new, free resource aimed at helping educators of all skill levels gain the ability to teach both Swift and Xcode — the latest…
Facebook, which reaches more users than any other international firm in India, has identified a new area of opportunity to further spread its tentacles in the world’s second-largest internet market.…
Indian edtech giant Byju’s in talks to acquire Doubtnut for more than $125M
Byju’s is in advanced stages of talks to acquire Doubtnut, a two-year-old education learning app, as the Indian edtech giant looks to expand its reach in smaller cities and towns…
Kahoot raises $28M for its user-generated educational gaming platform, now valued at $1.4B
As schools stay closed and summer camp seems more like a germscape than an escape, students are staying at home for the foreseeable future and have shifted learning to their…
GO1, an enterprise learning platform, picks up $40M from Microsoft, Salesforce and more
With a large proportion of knowledge workers doing now doing their jobs from home, the need for tools to help them feel connected to their profession can be as important…
Quizlet valued at $1 billion as it raises millions during a global pandemic
As millions of students and teachers shift to learn from home in response to the novel coronavirus disease, modern-day flashcard business Quizlet has raised $30 million in a Series C…
Edtech’s newest unicorn, ApplyBoard, lands $1.4B valuation with fresh funding
Brothers Martin, Meti and Massi Basiri all left Iran to study abroad in Canada. After struggling with every aspect from the visa process to grade conversions, the brothers saw an…
Johns Hopkins launches COVID-19 testing hub to provide public access to testing data
The COVID-19 testing picture in the U.S. is far from easy to understand, given the disparate agencies and public and private health organizations involved. Johns Hopkins, building on its excellent…
National Geographic launches a homeschool hub for parents and teachers, NatGeo@Home
The COVID-19 outbreak has closed schools across most of the U.S., impacting more than 55 million students who are now learning at home. That’s created an increased demand for homeschool…
Pre-school edtech startup Lingumi raises £4m, adds some free services during COVID-19
At these difficult times, parents are concerned for their children’s education, especially given so much of it has had to go online during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what about pre-schoolers…
Color is launching a high-capacity COVID-19 testing lab and will open-source its design and protocols
Genomics health technology startup Color is doing its part to address the global COVID-19 pandemic, and has detailed the steps it’s taking to support expansion of testing efforts in a…
Online tutoring marketplace Preply banks $10M to fuel growth in North America, Europe
Online learning looks likely to be a key beneficiary of the social distancing and quarantine measures that are being applied around the world as countries grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.…
MasterClass is launching free, live Q&A sessions with big shots in their respective industries
MasterClass is known for selling access to pre-recorded online classes by a long list of people who are among the best at what they do, from tennis great Serena Williams…
UNESCO updates distance-learning guide for the 776.7 million children worldwide affected by school closures
As schools around the world close or move classes online to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, many parents and educators are scrambling for ideas. The United Nations Education, Scientific and…
Los Angeles-based Talespin nabs $15 million for its extended reality-based workforce training tools
It turns out the virtual and augmented reality companies aren’t dead — as long as they focus on the enterprise. That’s what the Los Angeles-based extended reality technology developer Talespin…
On-demand tutoring app Snapask gets $35 million to expand in Southeast Asia
Snapask, an on-demand tutoring app, announced today that it has raised $35 million in Series B funding. Earmarked for the startup’s expansion in Southeast Asia, the round was led by…
Online learning marketplace Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse
The internet has, for better or worse, become the default platform for people seeking information, and today one of the companies leveraging that to deliver educational content has raised some…
