Nordic EdTech News #127: 2025-01-27
Your Weeks 3 and 4 update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Hello and welcome to today’s Nordic EdTech News. It was great to meet so many customers, friends and subscribers at Bett last week - I hope that the show was a success for everyone who attended or exhibited!
Latvia’s Solfeg.io certainly enjoyed their stay in London, winning the top prize and $20,000 at the GESAwards. More than 8,000 startups from 135 countries entered, so it’s great to see the winner come from our ecosystem! Congratulations to them!
Of course, I’m sure that the best of Nordic EdTech will also be at this September’s Nordic EdTech Summit. So I’m delighted to announce that Early Bird tickets are now available here. The offer is open until 28th February and the event only has capacity for approximately 200 EdTech leaders, so act quickly to reserve your spot.
As in 2024, my aim is to create a unique event that:
Helps attendees have lots of relevant, high quality conversations.
Features expert speakers from leading Nordic EdTech companies. (Further details on that will be released soon.)
Is intimate by design.
Groups people with similar goals and challenges together.
Prioritises peer-to-peer learning and networking.
So it’s great to see on social media that last year’s Summit in Skellefteå kickstarted discussions on a new agreement between ILT Education and Kide Science. They are now working together to “strengthen STEM education in kindergartens and preschools across Europe.” Here’s to more new deals being done at this year’s Summit.
Plenty of interesting investment stories over the last couple of weeks, beginning with news that Keystone Education Group has secured a €100 million bond issue with support from Nordic and international investors (Link). This will further fuel their ongoing expansion and growth in the global student recruitment space.
Also looking globally is Sana, whose founder and CEO Joel Hellermark recently did an interview with Bloomberg. In it, he stated that the company aimed to IPO and to be listed on the US stock exchange within a couple of years. One to watch!
In other funding news, Sweden’s Corsmed raised $3.5M from Luminar and Big Pi to achieve their mission of saving 100 million lives (Link). Their MRI simulator is used by many leading MRI colleges and hospitals to educate their students and upskill their technicians.
Meanwhile CybExer Technologies, an Estonian cybersecurity firm specialising in AI-based training and testing solutions, has raised €1.5 million through the SEB Baltic Venture Debt programme (Link). That funding will support the company’s ongoing development and the global expansion of its Cyber Range service.
One significant industry acquisition to report from Finland, where Sanoma Learning has acquired a portfolio of secondary and vocational education learning materials from Finnish publisher Edita Oppiminen Oy (Link). This is the education-specific subsidiary of Edita Group, who has decided to discontinue its learning materials business (Link). The acquired product offering closely complements Sanoma’s current product portfolio for secondary and vocational education in Finland.
Congratulations also to Norway’s Ludenso, who were one of only 3 European EdTechs included in the 2025 GSV Cup 50 (Link). This list spotlights the “50 pre-seed and seed-stage startups that are poised to transform education and workforce development for years to come.” The business has also launched Ludenso Studio 2.0, which makes “creating immersive 3D and AR experiences more intuitive, fun, and inspiring than ever.”
Whilst in Norway, there’s much to admire about this suggestion to raise national ambition and profile, so that it can be seen as a knowledge nation. The writer from NHH argues that 2025 should “mark the start of a major investment in our best academic environments.”
Two other policy topics to mention. In a new report, the Danish government's expert group on “tech giants” recommends three benchmarks when purchasing IT in the education sector. Firstly, digital tools must be age-appropriate, ad-free, tracking-free and not exploit children's data for commercial purposes.
Secondly, digital services must not require the creation of personal accounts, "which pulls pupils and students into the ecosystem of tech giants". Finally, municipalities should make greater use of Scandinavian / European collaboration and education tools as part of a plan to “be free from commercial tech giants."
Whilst in Finland, the government has now published its recommendations for the use of AI across education nationwide. Comments are now welcome from stakeholders before final adoption and circulation.
Just to mention that there’s a complete archive of all these newsletters here, so you can easily catch up on any that you might have missed.
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 X or LinkedIn or use #nordicedtech / #balticedtech.
Thanks for reading, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Aalborg will not introduce a general mobile phone ban in schools. (Link)
“Young people are more digitally exposed than digital natives.” (Link)
Futurist, Liselotte Lyngsø, on how AI will transform education and exams over the next 10 years. (Link)
The new LEGO Education Science product suite features 120+ engaging, standards-aligned science lessons and ready-to-use class presentations. (Link)
NEXT Education Copenhagen has decided to invest in ChatGPT licenses for all employees as part of its strategy to integrate AI into teaching. (Link)
Morten Blichfeldt Andersen, Publishing Director of Praxis, talks to DI about their work with AI and how it will transform the business moving forwards. (Link)
Systematic has signed a contract with KOMBIT, the Danish municipalities’ IT organisation, to continue providing the national library system for all Danish public and school libraries. (Link)
News from Estonia
Notice how Estonian schools adopt consistent guidelines over outright smartphone bans, balancing digital freedom with social interaction. (Link)
News from Finland
“High-quality learning materials are a cost-effective investment in the future for municipalities.”
Looking forward to seeing the category map and industry report for Finnish EdTech in 2025. Find out more here and get your product included.
Google has awarded Code School Finland a sponsorship grant, which they will use to help organisations comply with the EU AI Act and to thrive in an increasingly AI-driven world. (Link)
Great to see Aape Pohjavirta, the founder of Funzi, in Tech.Eu’s article on EdTechs learning new skills in an AI-driven world. (Link)
2024 was “a great leap forward” for Focus Tiger. (Link)
Peas in Pod, one of India’s fastest-growing preschool chains, has joined hands with Kindiedays Pro to remodel early childhood education. (Link)
Sekasin-chat, the youth mental health service, is now using an AI chatbot to help users. (Link)
News from Iceland
Good to see the Icelandic Association of Educational Technology Enterprises (IEI) meeting to discuss innovation and inclusion in the education system. (Link)
News from Latvia
40,000 residents will be trained in a new education programme to develop their digital skills. (Link)
Plans announced for a wide-ranging modernisation of study solutions in Latvian universities and colleges by the end of 2029. (Link)
How digital teaching resources support inclusive education. (Link)
News from Lithuania
The Lithuanian Innovation Agency invites EdTech (and GameTech) startups to apply for funding of up to €62,000. (Link)
News from Norway
“If the debate is simplified to for or against screens, everyone loses.”
EdTechs can apply for grants to develop teaching materials for schools and educational kindergarten materials in “areas without a market base.” (Link)
“Broken” IT system for colleges and universities has cost NOK 166 million. (Link)
Datatilsynet will monitor 50 municipalities' “safeguarding of privacy and personal data security in digital learning tools for educational purposes.” (Link)
Inspera takes first place in the UK’s APUC Framework Agreement. (Link)
Kör grew yoy revenue by 44% in 2024, ending the year with NOK 30 million in sales. (Link)
Norsk Helseportal, “a professional and career tool” for doctors, has raised NOK 2 million from practitioners nationwide. (Link)
News from Sweden
Imvi Labs have been awarded a planning grant of 300,000 SEK from Vinnova to “further develop and internationalise their innovative technology platform.” (Link)
SPSM gives a grant of nearly one million kronor to Kattalo to make its digital learning materials available to more students. (Link)
Mattekojan, Gleerups’ maths resources for younger pupils, are now available to all Magma Math users. (Link)
PlayWellMinds, “the app for mental training for young people”, raises new investment from angel investors. (Link)
Re:Play, a Swedish startup dedicated to sustainable learning in preschools, has partnered with Sigma Technology to make repurposed educational materials more accessible. (Link)
Skolon launches a new platform for parents (Links) and signs deal with 2Simple (Link).
Readioo will work with Story House Egmont to create interactive versions of four classic and beloved Bamse titles. (Link)
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