Nordic EdTech News #107: 2024-03-04
Week 8 - 9 update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Nordic EdTech News is the best way to keep up with the EdTech ecosystem across 8 Nordic and Baltic countries. I curate it from company updates and a wide variety of international sources. It’s a passion project of mine - the rest of my time is spent advising / consulting the companies who lead the future of learning. If you’d like to find out more, drop me an email.
Hello and welcome to today’s Nordic EdTech News. Hope that you’ve had or are having a good sportlov!
One of the nightmares of publishing a newsletter like this is when an update to a story comes out just after you’ve pressed send.
This happened two weeks ago when NEN 106 came out. In it, I reported that Roger Akelius, a billionaire real estate investor, had become a major shareholder in Academedia. But soon after my email hit inboxes, it was apparent that the deal had fallen through (Link). There’s a detailed walk-through of exactly what happened in “The affair that shook school Sweden.”
Whilst this newsletter is no fan of the Swedish Government’s de-digitisation moves, they are at least supporting their plans with investment. It has recently been confirmed that SEK 658 million will be allocated for the purchase of textbooks in 2024 (Link). Through this grant, schools will “have the opportunity to purchase approximately 1.3 million textbooks”, a notable step towards the government’s target of one textbook per student per subject
An additional grant of SEK 176 million has also been earmarked for schools to buy new fiction and non-fiction titles this year. According to the government, that’s enough for approximately 880,000 books. (Link)
Meanwhile in Norway, the government has published its advice on the use of AI in schools. Udir says that schools should take the pupils' age and maturity into account and that school owners - i.e. the municipalities and county councils - should decide when their schools adopt and deploy AI (Link).
The Norwegian Authority for Universal Design of ICT (Uu-tilsynet) has also published the results of its “comprehensive sector inspection of digital solutions used in primary schools.” Disappointingly, none of the digital solutions met the minimum requirements for the universal design of ICT. Lots of good insights here including a helpful, if not very up-to-date, review of the national teaching resources market.
On that, three notable sets of 2023 results from leading Nordic EdTech players have been released since the last newsletter.
Albert reported that annual net sales totalled TSEK 195,077 (2022: 123,055) and that was principally driven by acquired growth. EBITA also improved from TSEK -78,888 to TSEK -25,096. The business commented that “the path to profitability is clear, and we’ve now established a robust and scalable organisation.” (Link)
Although Gyldendal’s 2023 Annual Report showed a 2% increase in overall yoy revenue (DKK 720 million vs. DKK 706 million), turnover from its education business slipped by 1%. Notably its turnover from digital products rose by 4%, whilst the print contribution fell by 13%. (Link)
Shape Robotics’ 2023 Interim report outlined that annual revenues were up to TDKK 171,213 (2022: 87.385) with an EBITDA of TDKK +16.085 (2022: 5.134). It also announced minimum expected revenues of DKK 300 million and an EBITDA of at least DKK 25 million for 2024 (Link). An ambitious 2024 -2027 strategic plan was also launched “further expanding and strengthening Shape Robotics’ business model.”
Part of their plan involves the development of a “subscription-based educational intelligence assistant.” Dan Meyer’s recent Mathworlds newsletter contains a cautionary note for Shape and anyone else developing such solutions: “Products express opinions about the people who use them. Khanmigo does not think much of students.” And as Brighteye’s Ben Wirz suggests here: “Robo-tutors will have a hard time retaining kids and remain a supplement rather than a substitute if they can't solve this.”
And finally, don’t forget to check out the 2024 Nordic EdTech funding report that ran in the last newsletter. It’s produced in an exclusive collaboration with Brighteye Ventures - thanks again to them!
As always, if you’ve got a story that you’d like me to include in a future issue of this newsletter, please email hello@10digits.org, tag me on Twitter or LinkedIn or use #nordicedtech / #balticedtech.
Thanks for reading, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Schools will need more money to update printed resources if screens are to be less prominent in schools. (Link)
The first 200 students have now taken a digital driving theory test, so the format will now be rolled out to the whole country. (Link)
New R+D project will invite maths teachers to participate in the development of future teaching materials. (Link)
Magenta, the open source IT solutions provider, believes it can solve the municipalities’ Chromebook data problem “for only five million kroner” (Link) as KL warns: “If the government doesn't step in, then there will be a black screen for tens of thousands of school children."
Toptutors set a new record in Løvens Hule, raising DKK 300,000 for only 3% of their business. CEO Hasan El Youssef tells me that their plans for 2024 include expanding to Spain, launching an AI product and raising a seed round. (Link)
The Villum Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation are allocating DKK 31 million to the national programme "Engineering i Skolen." (Link)
News from Estonia
Seemingly a clear plan to create and export an Estonian School model? (Link)
Software Advice has recognised DreamApply as a FrontRunner 2023. (Link)
News from Finland
Following a successful pilot, the Eduten platform will be rolled out to all grade 3 and grade 4 students across Mongolia. (Link)
The Austrian State of Carinthia has invested in Elias Robot. (Link)
MinnaLearn has announced a new partnership with Talent Garden, allowing them to offer the Elements of AI for Business learning programme. (Link)
Interesting Oppiva Invest article on “How to get the most out of the new, rapidly developing tools in learning and teaching?”
Valamis has been named as a Core Leader on the Fosway 9-Grid for Learning Systems 2024 for the sixth consecutive year. (Link)
Wilma continues its close cooperation with the learning and assessment platform Qridi. (Link)
News from Iceland
A new school services bill including “the comprehensive organisation of teaching, practices and support resources” has been submitted for consultation. (Link)
Beanfee and Kópavogur municipality have agreed a deal to use the platform within its schools. (Link)
News from Latvia
Good review of the recent conference on Digitisation of schools: equal access to knowledge and educational resources."
News from Lithuania
If you missed EdTech Week Lithuania, there’s an excellent summary of key topics here.
News from Norway
Norway needs a “new, fully digital vocational school for the whole country.”
Detailed summary of the “sane debate” about screens and technology in Norwegian schools.
National data authorities are carefully studying the implications of Denmark’s recent Chromebook decision. (Link)
Kahoot! continues its expansion across Southeast Asia (Link) and its rapid growth is noted with a place on the FT 1000 list of Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies
Ludenso hits a new milestone of 314,000 LEDs (Learning Experiences Delivered). (Link).
Scrimba announced 34% growth in sales to NOK 23.6 million in 2023. (Link)
Skooler goes bankrupt and is then saved by its employees, although talks around a sale are continuing. (Link)
New report from WiKIT: Elevating EdTech investment: Prioritising evidence-based practices for lasting impact.
News from Sweden
German TV report: “Sweden reexamines the use of computers in schools.”
Principals and municipalities have been “left in the lurch” by government changes to the national digitisation strategy. (Link)
Allbry starts working with Valdemarsvik municipality to digitise student health. (Link)
Astrid’s new AI Chat “saves managers hours every week.” (Link)
Dugga continues its growth with new customers in Iceland. (Link)
Haldor has been selected to join the GTM Momentum Accelerator powered by Microsoft. (Link)
Dora Palfi, CEO of imagi, was recently interviewed by the Inclusive Startup Playbook.
Lexplore’s Anna Kraft is in the fifth cohort of the Female EdTech Fellowship - Europe. (Link)
Skoolie has been identified by Breakit as one of Sweden’s “hottest, hidden gems in 2024.” (Link)
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