Nordic EdTech News #116: 2024-08-05
Your Week 27 - 31 update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Hello and welcome to today’s Nordic EdTech News. I hope that you’ve had a relaxing and enjoyable summer break. It’s good to be back in your inboxes again!
Before we dive into what’s been happening across our ecosystem, I want to remind subscribers that the Nordic EdTech Summit gets underway 3 weeks today (26th August). Tickets are still available on the above link.
Here’s 3 key reasons why you should attend!
* Network and collaborate with +100 peers chasing similar goals and facing similar challenges.
* Learn from expert speakers at top Nordic EdTech companies such as Albert, Eduten, ILT Education, Kide Science, Praxis, Sanoma Learning, Skolon and more.
* If you need / want to know what the future looks like for digital tools in Nordic schools, then the recently-announced session featured below will be worth the entry fee alone!
We’ll certainly be talking about acquisitions at the Summit, particularly given the news that D2L, the global EdTech giant, has agreed to acquire Norway’s H5P Group (Link). H5P is a provider of interactive content creation tools used by “educators and organisations globally to increase engagement and boost learning by creating and enriching course materials.”
The move highlights the importance of content creation as a value-add for LMS providers and, as one industry expert commented, “aligns with recent acquisitions by D2L competitors.” According to the press release, H5P was acquired for “a purchase price of US$25.6 million at closing, with potential earnout payments of up to US$7.4 million based on the achievement of certain performance milestones.” Congrats to everyone at H5P!
Unsurprisingly it’s been a quiet few weeks from a funding perspective, with two notable exceptions. Denmark’s Female Invest announced the close of their Series A, raising a total of €10.3 million in a round led by Educapital and Rubio Impact Ventures (Link). Their app offers a “one-stop universe for financial knowledge and learning” and now has over 73,000+ paying members across 123 countries.
Attensi from Norway published their 2023 company accounts which revealed a NOK 92 million raise in December last year (Link). Viking Venture and Lugard Road Capital, the two largest existing shareholders, accounted for just over NOK 90 million of the funds raised. The business also revealed significant revenue growth - turnover increased from NOK 162 million in 2022 to NOK 215 million last year.
Whilst on financial reporting, Sanoma Learning posted H1 sales numbers of €271.7 million, which was up slightly from €264.3 million in 2023 (Link). Net sales grew in most markets, especially in Spain and the Netherlands, supported by earlier ordering. Sales in Finland were down slightly year on year. Interesting to note that capital expenditure amounted to €16 million, which “mainly consisted of growth investments in digital platforms and ICT.” As always, Sanoma’s investor briefing session made for an interesting watch.
Schools in Denmark will be able to start the new school year using Chromebooks after the Danish Data Protection Authority finally approved the agreement that KL had made with Google (Link). Meanwhile in Sweden, Lotta Edholm, Education Minister, has reiterated her back to basics approach, instructing Skolverket that it should: “….not only look at the possibilities of digitisation… but also look at the problems and concerns that are connected to digitisation.” (Link)
Huge congratulations to the team at Annie Advisor, who were the only Nordic winners in the fourth Annual Tools Competition - the world’s largest EdTech competition. (Link)
There's still time to apply to join the next cohort of the Female EdTech Fellowship. The application deadline has been extended to 30th August - full details here.
And finally, HundrED and Montessori Global Education have launched a spotlight on Child-Centred Learning to identify impactful and scalable innovations. The call for innovations for this research project is now open. Experts in child-centred learning are also invited to apply for the Advisory Board to review innovations.
Hope to see you at the Summit later this month. Any questions, just reply to this email.
Thanks for reading, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Piracy and free use of textbooks is putting pressure on publishers, particularly through the Nota scheme. (Link)
Big changes at Alinea as Clio is finally subsumed into its digital platform and a new version of Matematikfessor is launched.
How Aula forced Anders Laustsen, CEO of Famly, to explore international markets to build the business. (Link)
Praxis's AI-powered bookBot is transforming “the learning landscape for practical vocational training.” (Link)
Shape Robotics confirms a new partnership with Teksbotics to “expand STEAM education in Hong Kong.” (Link)
Congratulations to WriteReader who were one of the winners in the 2024 Learner//Meets//Future: AI-Enabled Assessments Challenge. (Link)
News from Estonia
kood/Jõhvi announced a strategic partnership with Estonian Business School to offer students a two-year Bachelor’s degree in Business and Entrepreneurship. (Link)
News from Finland
Corrsy announced a $500k pre-seed investment round with the aim of transforming education in MENA. (Link)
Updates from Eduten and GraphoGame in Brazil highlight the opportunities in LATAM from Finnish (and Nordic) EdTech.
HEI Schools, working with its local partner, is expanding its early childhood education offering to primary and secondary level in Phuket. (Link)
Olli-Pekka Heinonen, the Finnish director-general of the International Baccalaureate, argues that “education cannot truly evolve if technology is not at the heart of reforms to curriculum or assessment.” (Link)
Research conducted by Oppiva Invest looks at the use of AI in vocational education and highlights some of the opportunities and the challenges institutions face. (Link)
News from Iceland
Minister outlines planned changes to improve national education outcomes and overall PISA performance. (Link)
News from Latvia
€3 million has been made available for improving internet connectivity and to buy “other essential information and communication technology equipment.” (Link)
A tool for monitoring teachers' performance and wellbeing will be developed by Atea, in association with the Possible Mission initiative. (Link)
Datorium has founded and secured accreditation for Latvia’s first online secondary school - it has a dedicated technology focus. (Link)
News from Lithuania
Good to see that EditAI has won European Union – Next Generation funding to develop a new open market platform based on its technology. (Link)
How Google for Education is helping Lithuanian schools cope with teacher shortages and reduce teacher workload. (Link)
Turing College has welcomed 20 new learners from Iraq. They’ll join their Data Analytics course as part of the Digital Explorers programme. (Link)
News from Norway
According to a survey by the National Association of Schools, nearly two thirds of teachers think there is too much screen use in schools. (Link)
Oslo will ban mobile phones in all schools during teaching hours from 1 August. (Link)
Despite increased government investment, municipalities are buying fewer and fewer textbooks. (Link)
Inspera has announced an “extensive partnership agreement” with Instructure in the Nordics and beyond. (Link)
A fascinating article on itslearning as the company celebrates 25 years of operation. (Link)
Kahoot! earned the TrustEd Apps Certification for interoperability from 1EdTech, a global learning consortium. (Link)
Accounts for 2023 show that No Isolation is increasing revenues and reducing losses, with Germany and the Netherlands leading the way. (Link)
Pickatale is now available in the UAE, KSA, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Iraq. (Link)
News from Sweden
The Albert Group has entered a partnership with YPO to accelerate its growth in England. (Link)
A new survey from Atea shows that over 70% of parents in Sweden do not believe that all children have equal opportunity to learn how to use digital tools. (Link)
Two Swedish companies are in Emerge Education’s list of the top EdTech companies for workforce development - Alva and Sana. (Link)
Sana continues to scale rapidly and confirms the launch of a “price-friendly paid version” in September. (Link)
Scaleup Robotics have started running cloud robotics workshops with UK schools. (Link)
Skolon signed a new agreement with 9 Norwegian municipalities (Link) and have also landed a deal with the Stour Academy Trust, a Kent-based MAT. (Link)
How Skoolie uses an AI assistant to help young people and adults with career guidance. (Link)
Storyals and Exobe are joining forces to transform workplace learning and skills. (Link)
Thanks for reading this newsletter. If you think that your colleagues and wider network would find it useful, please share it with them!