Nordic EdTech News #47 : 2021-08-09
Your summer holiday update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Despite the fact that most of the Nordics enjoyed a long summer holiday during July, there’s still plenty of EdTech news to report from across our ecosystem and beyond.
The holiday season began with the news that Texthelp Ltd, the global leader in literacy and accessibility technology, had completed the acquisition of Nordic EdTech company, Wizkids (Link). Wizkids’ products are used by more than 1 million learners and the business has customers and staff across Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the UK. I’m delighted to say that I’ll be speaking to Jonas Lund, CEO at Wizkids, for next Monday’s Nordic EdTech News interview to get the full story!
Sanoma Learning, the education business of the Helsinki-based media group, announced a strong increase in net sales in H1 2021 - €217m vs €173m in 2020 (Link). Kahoot’s Q2 figures were also announced last month showing “solid growth in usage, revenues..(and).. subscribers” (Link).
In a quiet period for funding announcements, 99math’s $1million raise stands out. The investment will enable this Estonian EdTech to launch a paid-for version of their product for parents and to further expand its reach in the US. (Link)
99math were one of the companies identified in HolonIQ’s 2020 Nordic-Baltic EdTech 50, so I’m delighted to announce that applications for this year’s list are now open. HolonIQ’s Education Intelligence Team, together with Nordic EdTech News, will select the top 50 startups from the Nordic-Baltic region based on HolonIQ’s Global EdTech Startup evaluation rubric.
For full entry criteria and for a comprehensive review of how all of last year’s Top 50 are progressing, please click here. Applications are welcomed from EdTech companies, their customers and investors and can be made here. The closing date is 8th October 2021.
Albeit at a much smaller scale, 99math’s global expansion (and that of many other Nordic EdTechs as evidenced below) reflects key trends across the industry. Tech.eu’s Crossing Borders series on international expansion has recently highlighted the importance of such global growth for EdTech investors, including Helsinki-based Sparkmind (Link). Their article on how leading European EdTech companies (Brainly, GoStudent and Ironhack) approach new markets should also be required reading (Link).
Of course, recent weeks have seen a significant shift in market conditions in China, where the government has tightened regulations on private education companies, in an effort to “protect students’ right to rest, improve the quality of school education and reduce the burden on parents” (Link). These moves will obviously impact Nordic companies with interests in China and perhaps we’ll see a reallocation of the capital that’s been flooding into Chinese EdTech in recent years. Investors will surely seek new markets, especially those with stable political and regulatory environments like the Nordics. Interesting commentary on what’s happened here, here and here.
Whilst on global trends, Alberto Arenaza’s analysis of Duolingo’s post-IPO plans to bundle language learning and proficiency testing (Link) will be of interest to the many Nordic EdTechs active in that sector. Ditto their recently announced plans to create a maths app (Link). EdTechs globally will also be closely watching Pearson’s move to a subscription model as it makes all of its 1,500 titles available for $14.99/month through a new Pearson+ app. (Link)
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 always much appreciated!
Best regards, Jonathan
News from Denmark
A busy summer for the team at Labster as they launch new content (Link) and a new online hub for Singapore (Link). They’ve also been nominated as best virtual lab software for 2021. (Link)
Shape Robotics sign agreement with the City of Gothenburg - their first municipality deal outside Denmark. (Link)
Concern raised that monitoring software from Chinese companies has been deployed in Danish schools (Danish)
News from Estonia
Edumus named as semi-finalist in the European Social Innovation Competition. (Link)
Congratulations to Estonia’s Education and Youth Board who were awarded the Global Showcase Award for International EdTech Programme of the Year at the 2021 Bett Awards! (Link)
News from Finland
Fun Academy announce plans to train teachers in Peru. (ESP)
Interesting profile on how HEI Schools is taking Finnish education overseas. (Link)
Kide Science partner with Fable Street and Curiosity Edulab LLP in India (Link) and are named as semi-finalists in the Education & Media category for TTI Global Impact Awards, in partnership with the UN Development Programme. (Link)
The OAJ union argues the case for a common national vision for digitalisation in Finnish education. (Link)
News from Iceland
Mussila announce new partnership with Skolon to access potential customers in Norway and Sweden. (Link)
News from Latvia
A consortium led by Exonicus win €2.24 million through the European Defence Industry Development Programme. (Link)
Riga TechGirls win Google.org Impact Challenge Funding. (Link)
Skola 2030 conference (16/17 August) will focus on the role of technology in education. (Lat)
News from Lithuania
National Agency for Education publishes detailed list of available EdTech resources and invites providers to get involved. (Lith)
Teachers Lead Tech extend their solution to NGOs and not-for-profit organisations. (Link)
News from Norway
Concern raised that Norwegian universities are unfairly restricted in their ability to share digital content (Nor) as many prepare for digital-only teaching this Autumn. (Link)
The shift to digital-only teaching makes the allocation of print materials a challenge for some Norwegian schools. (Nor)
Attensi believe that this year’s turnover will exceed 100M NOK. (Nor)
Nearly 80% of students prefer taking digital assessments, according to new research from Inspera. (Link)
itslearning publish detailed guide on how to make hybrid learning work in schools and universities. (Link)
Kahoot! launch new integrations with GIPHY (Link) and Zoom (Link), the latter makes it easier for meeting participants to access, host and play Kahoot! within Zoom Meetings.
Ludenso announce launch of Ludenso Create on 16th August (Link) and plan a global sustainability challenge for October. (Link)
Positive update from Scrimba as 2020 revenues reach nearly 8M NOK (Nor - $$)
News from Sweden
Recent survey by Elgiganten sees parents calling for more digital resources and computer games in their children’s education. (Swe)
Enjoyable Tech.eu Podcast with Dora Palfi, CEO of imagiLabs. (Link)
Don’t miss this absorbing interview with Joel Hellermark, CEO of Sana Labs (Swe). Sana has also been named in Wired’s 2021 list of the 100 hottest startups in Europe. (Link)
Storytel (HQ in Stockholm) now has over 1 million paying subscribers in the Nordics. (Link)
The Swedish Edtech Industry argue that solely focusing on digital national tests threatens the wider digitisation of education. (Link)
Zimify signs multi-year agreement with Karlstad University. (Swe)
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