Nordic EdTech News #17 : 2020-04-20
Your Week 14, 15 & 16 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystems
Apart from the news that some schools in Denmark have reopened (Link), the launch of Teach Millions is undoubtedly this newsletter’s leading story. This amazing example of regional cooperation pulls together pre-existing national schemes to highlight 80+ companies from across Nordic and Baltic EdTech, who are now offering their resources for free during the Covid-19 pandemic.
EdTech is clearly in the spotlight at the moment and, as this article from Sifted suggests there’s much we’re learning as an industry at the moment. Recent surveys from Brighteye Ventures (Link) and from Productive in the US (Link) both highlight key areas of adversity and opportunity. The latter’s finding that 63% of EdTech entrepreneurs have a runway of 6 months or less is particularly concerning and confirms that although usage is booming, so are costs (Link). Free solutions cannot be sustained for ever, so it’s great to see Labster, Sana Labs and others from across our network doing significant international deals (see below!)
The underlying health of global EdTech is reflected in recent reviews of VC funding in Q1 2020 from HolonIQ (Link) and Navitas Ventures (Link). But, of course, what happens next is the big question - so opportunities to gain funding from IMPACT EdTech (Link) or to participate in LEGO Ventures Incubation Studio (Link) (Scandinavian companies only) can only be warmly welcomed.
Stay healthy and with best regards, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Alinea works with government departments to launch new Corona virus teaching resources. (Den, Eng)
Atea wins tender to supply PCs to Aarhus primary school pupils. (Den, Eng)
Report reveals Aula portal was criticised by teachers before launch. (Den, Eng)
Gyldendal detail recent significant increases in resource usage. (Den, Eng)
Labster announces mega-deal with California Community Colleges (2.1 million students) (Link). Is it the future of remote learning TechCrunch asks. (Link)
Shape Robotics’ launch resources to support coding education, without a robot. (Link)
News from Estonia
Great feature on 99math via the Startacus startup community site. (Link)
HITSA pull together digital content collections, as recommended by teachers (Est, Eng) and update plans to improve digital infrastructure. (Est, Eng)
Innove highlight teachers’ best practice for digital learning (Link) and announce competition to capture the best digital learning resources. (Est, Eng)
Lingvist's Mait Müntel discusses digital language learning during Covid-19. (Link)
Tallinn-based language learning app Speakly announce a €900K seed funding round. (Link)
News from Finland
How Finnish education has responded to the challenges of Covid-19. (Link)
Five great Finnish music learning solutions profiled here. (Link)
3DBear add new teaching resources to support AR adoption. (Link)
Education Alliance Finland have been nominated for the €190,000 Jacobs Foundation’s Best Practice Prize. (Link)
Funzi launch new ‘Covid-19: Adapt & Thrive’ courses to support global learners through the pandemic. (Link)
Further details announced about Kide Science’s new product for families (Link) as they’re named a ‘favourite investment prospect’ at the Salto Growth Camp.
New Nordic School has raised €2.5 million in seed funding - €1.3m from international angel investors and €1.2m from other instruments. (Link)
School Day named as Editor’s Pick on EdTechX 360. (Link)
News from Iceland
Kara Connect feature in a Sifted report on the mental health tech boom that’s being driven by Covid-19. (Link)
Applications are now open for Utís 2020 - events planned for September and November 2020. (Ice, Eng)
News from Latvia
Latvian MOE create a new educational TV channel "Your Class" (Lat, Eng) and provide extensive support for stakeholders. (Lat, Eng)
Edurio runs survey (with MOE) to assess readiness for online learning (Lat, Eng)
5,000 pupils are given devices to enable online learning. (Link)
Solfeg.io has been selected for investment and participation in the Learn Launch Accelerator programme. (Link, Link)
News from Lithuania
BitDegree offer free courses to learners (Link) and round up another busy month in March. (Link)
Interview with Justas Janauskas, CEO of Qoorio, in EU-Startups highlighting the power of their connected learner community. (Link)
Teachers Lead Tech launches early and start working with 300 teachers to create, learn and teach with technology.
News from Norway
Great overview of 3DL’s ongoing growth and development. (Nor, Eng)
Kahoot! enjoys a very successful Q1 (Nor, Eng), launches reading app Poio in the U.S (Link) and develops bespoke games with the UN (Link).
Interesting perspectives from Ludenso on education’s long term future. (Nor, Eng)
NewSchool develop tools to help parents working and teaching at home. (Link)
Covid-19 brings uptick in sales for No Isolation. (Nor, Eng)
Schools consider local startup instead of multinational competitor to keep students and teachers connected. (Nor, Eng)
New Skooler app enables users to bring their Moodle courses into Teams. (Link)
News from Sweden
Dugga integrates into and enables testing within MS Teams. (Swe, Eng)
imagiLabs receives SEK 900,000 from Vinnova’s Innovative Startups programme. (Link)
Language learning app, Lingio, announce new SEK 17 million investment. (Swe, Eng)
Matteappen sign deal with Hallsberg Kommun. (Swe, Eng)
Sana Labs announces Project Florence with the Mount Sinai Health System in NYC (Link) alongside a new AI platform for SFI with Leksell Social Ventures. (Swe, Eng)
Skolverket seek applications from schools for digitisation support. (Swe, Eng)
Swedish Edtest gets off to a flying start as schools and companies meet virtually. (Swe, Eng)
Swedish Edtech Industry launches new Edtechtempen progress report to measure Covid-19 response. (Swe, Eng)
Thanks for reading and see you again on 4th May!
Many thanks, Jonathan
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