Nordic EdTech News #42 : 2021-05-10
Your Week 17 and 18 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystem
It’s impossible to look beyond Kahoot’s acquisition of the US EdTech, Clever, for this week’s lead story. As Tech.eu put it: “Not often that a European tech company buys a US-based company for half a billion dollars.” Acquisitions of this scale by Nordic EdTech companies are even rarer than that!
The acquisition is Kahoot’s fifth in a year and is worth up to $500 million (Link). It gives Kahoot! direct access to Clever’s significant US presence. (Clever claims to be used in 89,000 schools and has 20 million students logging in every month). The agreement also, of course, gives Kahoot a new, ready-made proposition to take to its ever-increasing global customer base (now 200 countries globally). Kahoot’s ambition is clear - this acquisition, CEO Eilert Hanoa states, “brings us closer to our vision of building a global leading learning platform.”
Difficult to follow that, but continuing from the flurry of Swedish EdTech funding stories in the last Nordic EdTech News, Astrid announced a $4 million seed funding round from a group of leading private investors. The funding will help scale their English language learning platform (Link). Furthermore, Finland’s Yousician has announced a $28 million Series B funding round, led by True Ventures. Founded a decade ago, the music education company now has 20 million monthly users across its two apps and is on a mission to make “musicality….as common as literacy” (Link).
Yousician also features in Sifted’s round-up of the Nordic startups and scaleups to watch in 2021 (Link). Great to see so many other EdTech companies featured on the list. And if you’re interested in the DNA of what makes a successful EdTech business, then this series of blog posts from CanopyLAB on EdTech Unicorns will be well worth reading. If learning about exceptional Nordic educators is more your bag, then can I strongly recommend this week’s Learnit Podcast? Featuring Camilla Leirvik, Rector at Elvebakken High School in Oslo, it’s a great example of what makes Nordic education so special and so unique.
Whilst we’re in Norway, don’t miss next Monday’s Nordic EdTech News Interview with Jamie Poolton of Showbie. We’ll be talking about their new Norway-based Nordic team as well as the Nordic focus at next week’s Learning RedefinED virtual event. If you missed last week’s interview with Jannie Jeppesen, CEO of the Swedish Edtech Industry, you can read it in full here.
Leading European IT provider, Signpost, is also expanding into the Nordic and Baltic countries. They’re looking to run pilot projects with interested colleges and universities. Email gregory.boulahouache@signpost.eu if you’d like to find out more.
Finally, OAMK is looking for a part-time Senior Lecturer to support the education and EdTech professionals (many of whom read this newsletter!) studying their blended Master's degree course in Education Entrepreneurship. Apply by May 12th - details 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
Danmarks Lærerforening highlight the importance of involving teachers in resource procurement decisions. (Den)
Edaptio tell the story behind their launch and outline plans to break into the UK. (Link)
Gyldendal announce acquisition of the Danish EdTech, Tibalo, developers of the ABaCus digital maths teaching resources. (Danish)
New DKK 200 million government programme announced to improve science education at all levels. (Den)
News from Estonia
Estonia will this week host the third global forum on the future of education and skills 2030. (Link)
Data from over 400 Estonian schools underpins this study on “The Patterns of School Improvement in Digitally Innovative Schools.” (Link)
The Jõhvi Coding School opens for admissions. (Link)
How the ProgeTiger programme prepares Estonian children for a digital future. (Link)
News from Finland
Members of the Education Finland Education Export Programme generated EUR 498 million in turnover by the end of 2020. (Link)
Great summary demonstrating how Finnish EdTech businesses are advancing learning worldwide. (Link)
Claned announce new partnership with Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia. (Link)
Eduten and partners develop a digital Finnish International Final Exam. (Link)
EEX is currently looking for EdTech startups to join EEX Journey, its unique “Development program for entrepreneurial leadership.”
eMathStudio from Four Ferries has been awarded the eEemeli prize for Finland’s best learning solution. (Finnish)
Funzi announce new partnership with AfricaWork, Africa’s number one recruitment service. (Link)
Kide Science has been identified as the top-rated science resource by teachers in UK primary schools. Congrats! (Link)
Kitsat teams up with Spaceway to take their space and STEM education programmes to the Portuguese-speaking world. (Link)
New Nordic School partners with the University of Eastern Finland to develop international teacher training and school improvement solutions. (Link)
School Day announce plans to offer Covid Relief SEL Scholarships. (Link)
News from Iceland
Great video showcasing the Icelandic school system from Ingvi Ómarsson. (Link)
According to a post from CEO, Jon Gunnar Thordarson, Mussila have hit their fundraising target, launched a new Eurovision app and signed a deal with schools in Kópavogur (Link).
News from Latvia
2,000 students join scientists online as part of “Science.Zoomed.In.” (Latvian)
News from Lithuania
Great summary from TAMO Group showing how Lithuanian schools responded to the challenges of online and distance learning. (Link)
Teachers Lead Tech launch new #HealthyMind course to improve teacher wellbeing. (Link)
News from Norway
Research suggests that pupils’ writing skills declined during at home, online learning (Link) and that university students feel increasingly “isolated, lonely and demotivated”. (Nor)
itslearning announce that the Home Guard portal has opened on the Swedish Armed Forces' learning platform. (Link)
Kahoot! announce new integration with Hopin to take virtual events “to the next level.” (Link)
Research by the University of Stavanger shows that Ludenso’s AR technology makes learning more effective and engaging. (Link)
News from Sweden
Six out of ten teachers are dissatisfied with learning platforms, according to new research. (Swe)
Academedia launch new EdShare proposition to help schools share expertise and resources. (Link)
edChild has been selected for the 2021 Education for Sustainable Development Award from World OMEP. (Link)
Gimi CEO, Philip Haglund, talks about financial education on the Fintech Daydreaming podcast. (Link)
Haldor is identified in Sifted as one of Sweden’s “hottest up-and-coming startups” (Link) and sign agreement with Lysekil municipality. (Swe)
imagiLabs has been named as the next syndicate investment deal at Unconventional Ventures. (Link)
Kognity announce new integrations and partnerships with Google Classroom (Link) and Kahoot! (Link).
I’ll be interested to follow LEADS - a new research project on leading digitalisation in schools. (Link)
Great to see Lexplore featured on the BBC’s One Show! (Link)
Matteappen sign new agreement with Helsingborg municipality. (Swe)
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