Nordic EdTech News #41 : 2021-04-26
Your Week 15 and 16 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystem
The recent surge in funding announcements from leading Nordic EdTech businesses has certainly continued over the last fortnight with a series of significant investments to report.
Swedish EdTech has been at the forefront with Dugga raising a $5.1m Series A investment round (Link) and Lexplore raising €5.0m in equity funding (Link). Both investments were led by Finnish EdTech investor, Sparkmind.vc, and both companies identify international expansion as a key priority.
Gleechi have also announced a 25M SEK investment from the European Innovation Council Fund to accelerate and expand their VR training platform and technology (Link).
Combined with the news that Academedia has acquired Studier.se (Link), it’s been a great two weeks for Swedish EdTech, so it’s perfect timing that the Swedish Edtech Industry have published their second landscape report this morning (Link). This highlights an exceptional period of change, growing digital maturity and, as above, an increased priority placed on global growth. I’ll be talking to Jannie Jeppesen, their CEO, to discuss the report in further detail for my next Nordic EdTech News Interview, to be published next Monday.
Continuing the theme, Finnish EdTechs have also been successful in raising funds over the last fortnight. 3DBear raised €1.5m from Brand Capital International and Oppiva Invest (Link), whilst HEI Schools raised a €1.5m Series A investment from Practica Capital and Tesi to accelerate the global growth of their curriculum programmes and teacher training. (Link)
In other funding news, Danish EdTech, Area9 Lyceum, raised over DKK 140 million from Lego Ventures and Vækstfonden (Link, Link). Lithuanian EdTech, Turing College, announced that they had also recently received investment from Mikhail Seregine, Co-Founder of Outschool.
Two future events for your calendars. Don’t miss the Nordic educator perspective at the forthcoming Showbie Learning RedefinED virtual event from 17th to 21st May 2021 - details here. The itsConvention 2021 from itslearning (25 to 27th May) is also worth making a note of (Link).
If you’re the founder of an early-stage Nordic EdTech, I'd highly recommend looking at Emerge Education's newsletter and their weekly Clubhouse events. There's a wealth of great practical insights from leading EdTech founders - sign up for the newsletter here. Do also check out ‘Financial literacy- a hive of activity’, the excellent, new report from Brighteye Ventures. (Link)
And finally, leading European IT provider, Signpost, is expanding into the Nordic and Baltic countries and is looking to run pilot projects with higher education institutions and colleges. Email gregory.boulahouache@signpost.eu if you’d like to find out more.
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
Research suggests that parents want more online education after the Covid-19 pandemic. (Link)
Good to see virtual sessions around education and technology at Internet Week Denmark (4th to 9th May). Full details here.
Important role identified for parents in delivering online learning. (Danish)
How creativity, motivation and play underpin the success of the Coding Pirates community. (Danish)
News from Estonia
Good international coverage of the role eKool plays in bringing together parents, students and teachers. (Link)
Detailed overview of how Estonian teachers / schools are successfully delivering online, distance learning. (Link)
The lessons German education can learn from Estonia. (Ger)
Schools and kindergartens can apply for € 300,000 in funding to promote technology education. (Est)
News from Finland
Code School Finland offers a webinar on Tue 27th April at 11 EEST / 16 CST with title Three keys to successful coding education. Targeted at those making decisions and planning coding education at school, district or national level.
EduCluster Finland confirm an agreement to co-create a Finnish International School in Uzbekistan. (Link)
Eduten launch Finnish Education Perspectives podcast. (Link)
Elias Robot expands into Ireland (Link) and is being used by the largest language learning school in Switzerland. (Link)
HEI Schools are collaborating with the City and University of Helsinki to launch a research-based kindergarten. (Link)
Kide Science partner with Zhejiang Science and Technology Museum in China (Link) and receive acclaim for their work in Hong Kong. (Link)
LessonApp collaborates with TAMK to empower teachers in Chile. (Link)
New Nordic School named as a Helsinki startup to watch. (Link)
The story of how Sitra's Solution 100 competition propelled Positive Learning forwards. (Finnish)
News from Iceland
Fascinating interview with Ingvi Ómarsson, in which he explains why “Every teacher should be a lead learner” via HundrED. (Link)
Encouraging to see that Mussila is being trialled and tested by schools in Estonia. (Link)
News from Latvia
Accenture Latvia launch this year’s She Goes Tech programme with Riga TechGirls to encourage more women to pursue a career in IT. (Link)
First agreements struck with municipalities to roll out Jaudīgs internets ikvienai Latvijas skolai (Powerful Internet for Every Latvian School). (Latvian)
Over 40% of Latvian students have improved their independent learning skills and learned to plan their time as a result of online learning. (Lat)
News from Lithuania
Over 30 digital learning / teaching resources have been added to The National Agency for Education’s approved list. (Lith)
Increasing co-operation and co-working now taking place between EdTech businesses and education institutions. (Lith)
A digital financial literacy tool is one of four winners at GovTech Lab Lithuania Hackathon. Congratulations! (Link)
News from Norway
Brilliant example of how Norwegian schools are delivering coding classes. (Nor)
iMal report international expansion with sales in Germany and Sweden. (Nor)
How the University of Oslo handled the shift to digital assessment with Inspera. (Link)
The library at the University of Southern Denmark is now part of their itslearning portal, giving +35k students access to a bespoke course. (Link)
Ludenso announce Vøyenenga school as the winner of their Ludenso Create Easter Competition. (Link)
Amazingly 665 Norwegian schools don’t have a school library! (Link)
News from Sweden
The Swedish tech industry demands more focus on programming and digital skills in Swedish schools. (Swedish)
Malmö schools start measuring digital development and maturity. (Link)
New Liber Digital resources added to Skolon (Swe) along with Kampus from Sanoma Utbildnings. (Swe)
Matteappen’s CEO, Henrik Appert, features on the ‘Under 15’ podcast (Swe) and outlines plan to improve Swedish maths teaching. (Link)
The ongoing arguments over Stockholm’s school platform continue. (Swe) This is an excellent summary if you’re new to the long-running saga!
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