Nordic EdTech News #69: 2022-07-04
Your Weeks 24 - 26 update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Hello, good morning and welcome to today’s Nordic EdTech News.
It’s a bumper issue as businesses get their news out before the Summer break - please click the “View entire message” link if your email service has clipped it. And if you’ve missed any previous newsletters, you can catch up via the web archive here. Now, let’s get going!
It’s been a busy few weeks for Swedish EdTech with two notable acquisitions to report. Firstly, Zcooly has acquired Peppy Pals with a combined ambition to become one of Europe’s largest EdTech players (Link). Both organisations use the power of games to make learning engaging and fun. Separately, SchoolSoft, one of Sweden’s leading schools management systems, announced the purchase of Norway’s Logometrica (Link). The deal supports SchoolSoft’s ambition to become a “digital one-stop shop for schools.”
The last three weeks have also seen three Swedish EdTechs raise significant investment. Mentimeter, the engagement platform widely used in education, raised SEK 432 million (Link); Lingio, a Swedish language learning solution for corporates, confirmed a SEK 41 million raise (Link) and Quizrr closed a $2.5M investment round to accelerate the expansion of their human and labour rights training platform (Link).
In other funding news, Norway’s Pickatale has confirmed NOK 100 million of new funding for their online reading platform (Link). In 2021, the business launched in the UK and Denmark, added 100,000 users and increased revenue to more than NOK 10 million.
Estonia’s 99math has also finalised an additional $2.1M in funding. (Link) The investment will help to continue expansion in the US and other international markets. Students are currently solving an incredible 3 million maths problems on the site every day!
Be sure to check out the newly-released Finnish EdTech Report 2022. It was commissioned by the Helsinki Education Hub and conducted by EdTech Finland and “analyzes the growing ecosystem of Finnish EdTech companies and actors.” Perfect for reading on the hammock or sun-lounger!
Whilst on Finland, Qridi (and Denmark’s Peergrade) have been identified as selected innovations in a report on Formative Assessment from Hundred.org and the Jacobs Foundation.
Do also listen to the Digital Education Decoded podcast (sponsored by Academic Software) if digital education and technology in universities is your focus. It’s also available on YouTube with English subtitles here.
Two notable EdTech events coming up after the summer.
An afternoon on Nordic Co-operation in EdTech at Oslo Innovation Week - 28 September.
HolonIQ’s Global Impact Summit in Stockholm - 29th November.
And finally, EdTech Estonia will be organizing another EdTech Hack and would like other countries to join as co-hosts! The hack will be fully online and will feature a great combination of mentors and workshops. Email maria@edumus.org if you’d like to get involved.
I’ll be taking a break over the summer, so the next newsletter will be published on 8th August 2022. I’ll cover any breaking stories on Twitter, so do follow updates there!
Have a great holiday and see you again in a few weeks!
Thanks for reading, Jonathan
News from Denmark
CanopyLAB strike agreements with German coaching company Qfour.ai (Link) and Danish e-sports club MASONIC (Link).
Clio‘s 2021 Annual Report highlights a DKK 19 million loss and clear plans to “maintain its strong position in the Danish market and continue its growth in the Swedish and international markets.” (Link)
Gyldendal Uddannelse have been hit by a large data leak - details of 750k students and teachers were freely available on a database for +10 years. (Link)
This year’s Læremiddel.dk conference will be on "The teaching aid landscape in Denmark." Details here - 27 October 2022.
Shape Robotics pens agreement with Samsung Electronics (Link) and confirms a significant order from their US partner Pitsco Education (Link)
Tanja Schjellerup, CEO of Skolen Online, has been named as one of the World’s Most Influential Women in EdTech by World’s Leaders Magazine. (Link)
News from Estonia
CoNurse secures EU funding from EIT Health InnoStars. (Link)
Good to see EdTech Estonia going from strength to strength at their recent general meeting. (Link)
Strong Ukrainian presence in the new kood/Jõhvi cohort. (Link)
News from Finland
Finland’s government provides +€9 million for the development of children and young people's digital skills plus related teacher support. (Link)
Kide Science confirms partnership with US-based Raising a Reader and their annual Super Summer Learning Adventures programme. (Link)
MinnaLearn outlines their plan to fix online courses. (Link)
Reactored has launched a free Finnish language learning material for Ukrainian visitors. (Link)
South Korea’s Sam Corporation is the first foreign company to test and develop its solution in schools with Testbed Helsinki. (Link)
News from Iceland
Interesting podcast with Mussila CEO, Jon Gunnar Thordarson, (Link) and a behind-the-scenes view of the business on Icelandic TV. (Link)
News from Latvia
Positive feedback on the use of digital technologies in Latvian “Teachers’ Voice” research. (Link)
News from Lithuania
BitDegree signed a partner agreement with the Blockchain Centre to develop a “radically different Web3 learning experience.” (Link)
Memby has been named the Skaitmeninis knygnešys Lithuanian start-up of the year. (Link)
Teachers Lead Tech / Vedliai win the learning and education category at the national WSA Awards. (Link)
News from Norway
Congratulations to IKT-Norge and their members for a highly successful showcase at the hub.berlin event. (Link)
Attensi confirms a 52% yoy increase in turnover to NOK 110million in 2021. (Link)
Jens Aarre Seip, CEO of Curipod, features on the Lærerbloggen podcast and highlights how they aim to “pique curiosity and create discussion.” (Link)
News from Sweden
Can new distribution models increase the use of digital teaching materials? (Link)
Sweden only spends 0.65% of total school budget on teaching resources but Finland spends 1.5%, according to a new survey. (Link)
Albert has signed a license agreement with Bonnierförlagen to launch a maths book for 6-9 year olds (Link) and is rapidly integrating its Sumdog acquisition. (Link)
Booksquare confirms a new agreement with UK-based Packt Publishing to increase the supply of IT e-books to Swedish customers / students. (Link)
EdAider launched a new tool to better track and understand students’ wellbeing in school. (Link)
Teaching materials from Gleerups will now be available through the Skolon platform. (Link)
Growloop, the “completely digital leadership coach of the future” has raised €1 million in seed round funding.(Link)
Matteappen signs a contract with independent schools group, Lärandegruppen. (Link)
New opportunities to evaluate EdTech resources with Swedish Edtest this Autumn. (Link)
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