Nordic EdTech News #35 : 2021-01-25

Your Week 2 and 3 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystems

Jan 25, 2021

Regular readers of Nordic EdTech News may recall that I began the last newsletter by encouraging Nordic EdTech to think big. So it’s great to begin the New Year with news of a significant Series A investment for Sweden’s Sana Labs. Sana works with customers including Amgen, Mount Sinai and Novartis to upskill their employees remotely through machine learning. This $18 million round, led by EQT Ventures, will help Sana to amplify their efforts to reimagine “how learning is delivered, created, and analyzed.” (Link)

On the subject of EdTech funding, the latest EdTech Funding Report 2021 from Brighteye Ventures makes good reading for European and Nordic EdTech. According to the report, the Nordics hit a record total deal value of $60m in 2020. That didn’t even include Kahoot, whose 2020 raise was excluded “to reduce distortion.”

It’s also great to report that Brighteye are making the Nordics the first stop on their virtual European tour of EdTech hotspots. Don’t miss what will be a fascinating session with Kahoot Founder, Johan Brand, as he’s talking about the amazing journey of growing the business from a startup. The event takes place this Wednesday between 1500 and 1600 CET - sign up here.

If the gamification of learning is your thing, then don’t miss the latest event from Creative Business Network this Thursday (28 Jan). Called ‘Gamification: engage, play, learn’, the webinar will highlight “key trends in gamification and digital game design” and there’s a great investor panel too. For full details and to sign up, click here.

And finally, if you’re new to the world of Nordic and Baltic EdTech, then Iuliia Shnai, CEO and Founder of Marble, has put together a really helpful summary here.

As always, do let me know if you’ve got any feedback or a story to include in a future issue of this newsletter by emailing hello@10digits.org. Sharing this email with your network is also much appreciated!

Best regards, Jonathan

News from Denmark

Esben Trier takes over as Director of EdTech Denmark. Congrats! (Dan, Eng)
Big milestone for CanopyLAB as the 100th partner joins the LAB. (Link)
Clio extend beta offer into 62 new territories (Danish) as they hire Clara Mai Kunstmann as Chief Product Officer. (Danish)
Summary of Labster’s 2020 here as they announce new content, new teacher support and important new research.
Peaqs supports GBSN to deliver the Africa Business Plan Challenge. (Link)
Significant concern as many municipalities appear to have broken the legislation on protecting student data. (Danish)
Teknologipagten supports 27 new programmes in STEM and digital upskilling. (Danish)
YOLI launches - a new digital learning game without a screen. (Link)

News from Estonia

Strong Estonian presence at the virtual Bett show - BettFest. (Link) The Secretary General of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research spoke at the event - his speech highlighting the importance of digital learning tools is here.
DreamApply announce new agreements with Nigeria’s Covenant University and Ashesi University in Ghana. (Link)
How Tallinn University encourages teachers to use STEAM tools. (Link)
Great to see so many EdTech companies and initiatives nominated at the Estonian Startup Awards 2020. Full details here.

News from Finland

Compelling evidence of the impact of online teaching (teachers in Finland and students in Malaysia) from Code School Finland. (Link)
Claned sign deal to run online courses for Viinitie, the Finnish wine exporter.(Link)
Data will guide teaching as part of a revolution of the Finnish education system. (Fin, Eng)
Olli Vallo, CEO of Education Alliance Finland, features in this interesting podcast from CEO Class. (Link)
Mightifier land new agreement in Mexico. (Link)
Panda Training expand into new markets with Business Finland support. (Link)
Sanako announce new research agreement with the University of Turku (Finnish) and run next online language teaching webinar. (Link)
Suojellaan Lapsia launch important, new Digital Safety programme. (Link)
Get involved with the HACK-ED - Future of Education hackathon from the University of Applied Sciences of the Future. 17 Feb to 14 Apr. (Link)

News from Iceland

ICYMI - Atlas Primer announce partnership with The Association of the Dyslexic in Iceland to increase access to digital learning resources. (Ice)
My occasional reminder that #menntaspjall is the very best place to see innovative use of EdTech in Icelandic teaching.
Would love to feature more Icelandic EdTech news, email hello@10digits.com with any stories.

News from Latvia

Over 200 schools are now using Edurio’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey. (Link)
iZvaigzne review a hectic 2020 and detail new launches for 2021. (Lat)
Filming for the second season of acclaimed Tava klase (Your class) initiative begins. (Latvian)

News from Lithuania

A busy end to 2020 as BitDegree summarises their last quarter here.
Significant Government investment (€7.5m) to support students experiencing difficulties studying online. (Lith)

News from Norway

NOK 150m government investment to improve home education of school students. (Nor - ££)
Has a shift to digital teaching also increased print book sales? (Nor)
itslearning will move fully to the cloud before Summer 2020. (Link)
Kahoot announce new updates for 2021 (Link) as Northzone sells all of its stake in the business. (Link)
Julie Hansson Tangen joins Lær Kidsa Koding as their new general manager. (Nor)
Great to see Ludenso’s AR technology in use in schools and featured on national TV! (Nor)
Nextory prepares Norway launch and signs agreement with Cappelen Damm (Swe)

News from Sweden

AcadeMedia launch extensive resource bank to support delivery of online learning. (Swedish)
Dugga Assessment seals deal with Gateway Colleges in Sri Lanka. (Link)
Gleechi receive investment from the new European Innovation Council Fund. (Swe)
ILT Inläsningstjänst launch Polylino in Austria (Link) and confirms agreement to supply daycare centres in Munich. (German)
Ineq Solutions and Studybee join the DigitalWell Ventures accelerator. (Link)
Kognity announce a fantastic line-up of speakers for their forthcoming Engage virtual event. (Link)
Matteappen raise SEK 16.5m in new investment and plan expansion into the US. (Swe)
Private tuition in Sweden is on the rise - an impact of school closures? (Swe)
Swedish Edtest is open for applications from EdTech businesses for their Spring round. Apply by 5th February - full details here.
Swedish Edtech Industry relaunch updated version of their Edtechkartan to support the national digital ecosystem. (Swe)
New research shows how schools can maximise efficiency and impact of digitalisation. (Swe)

Thanks for reading and don’t miss the next NEN on 8th February!