Nordic EdTech News #49 : 2021-09-06
Your Weeks 34 and 35 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Two weeks ago issue 48 of this newsletter expressed surprise that Sweden’s long-awaited Inquiry into Strengthened School Libraries and Teaching Aids seemed to favour printed teaching materials for schools. So it’s reassuring to see recent market feedback confirming that a hybrid combination of print and digital materials is closer to the norm in classrooms across the Nordics.
First half results from Gyldendal, one of the Nordic region’s oldest and largest publishers, for example showed an 8% y-o-y increase in revenue to DKK 418 million (Link). The company identified an increased contribution from their education businesses and particularly from digital teaching resources. Gyldendal’s Norwegian arm also noted an increase in textbook revenues, whilst confirming that Skolestudio is now one of the largest platforms for digital teaching in Norwegian schools (Link).
Linked to the above, Sanoma Learning has announced plans to combine its publishing companies in Finland and Sweden to form a single Nordic business (Link). Finland’s Sanoma Pro and Sanoma Utbildning from Sweden will come together to form a regional publishing powerhouse under the leadership of Kirsi Harra-Vauhkonen, who is currently CEO of Sanoma Pro. Their digital ambitions are clear: “..through the merger we will strengthen both our digital competence and capacity.”
It has also been a notable fortnight for Kahoot! as they confirmed the completion of their acquisition of Clever, the US EdTech platform. The deal came in at a total consideration of $435 - 500 million (Link).
In Nordic ecosystem news, the Helsinki Education Hub has announced the details of its grand virtual opening on 23rd September (Link). Do attend if you can!
If you missed last week’s interview with Benoit Wirz, Partner at Brighteye Ventures, you can read it in full here. The interview was timed to coincide with news of their investment in Memby, a Lithuanian online tutoring business. See here for further details of their recent $1 million raise.
Applications for HolonIQ’s 2021 Nordic-Baltic EdTech 50 are still open. For full entry criteria and for a comprehensive review of how all of last year’s Top 50 are progressing, click here. Applications are welcomed from EdTech companies, their customers and investors and can be made here. The closing date is 8th October 2021.
Also worth noting that the Global EdTech Startup Awards or GESAwards are accepting entries until 30th September. Apply here - it would be great to see a Nordic EdTech win!
If you read this newsletter for Nordic EdTech analysis and insight, you may be interested to know that I offer consultancy services. Want to find out more? Let’s talk.
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
Alinea and GoTutor have created an ebook based on their research with parents and teachers about education during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Link)
Corporate learning startup, Barma, raises new capital from Keystones and Vækstfonden. (Dan)
CanopyLAB celebrates as TeacherLAB is nominated for an SDG Award (Link) and as a new interview is published with CEO, Sahra-Josephine Hjorth. (Link)
Shape Robotics announces 45% growth in revenue to 4.3m DKK between Jan and June 2021. (Link)
Interesting project in Vejle Municipality that uses wrist sensors to measure how much students move in the school day. (Link)
News from Estonia
Great profile showing how DreamApply supports international student recruitment for universities in Estonia and beyond. (Link)
215 students from 16 nationalities will be starting their courses at kood/Jõhvi this Autumn. (Link)
Mentornaut start a pilot project offering free tutoring sessions to schools. (Est)
The “Digital Key” programme returns to boost teachers’ digital competencies and core skills. (Link)
News from Finland
Five Finnish solutions to stop on and offline bullying. (Link)
New research on open and flexible learning environments in Finland. (Link)
FourFerries launches eMathStudio in vocational colleges around Finland. (Finnish)
Kide Science sign agreement with Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries, the UK’s largest childcare franchise (Link), as well as starting a new partnership in Greece. (Link)
New Nordic School confirms deal with a Serbian primary school to “bring Finnish education to the school.” (Link)
School Day announces that Visma has acquired their Dashboard Service to support schools’ administration and management functions. (Link)
UNICEF will launch a new innovation hub in Finland, focusing on “the development, testing and scaling of new solutions in the field of learning.” (Link)
Yousician launches new lessons with famous recording artists (Link) and is named in Sifted’s list of Finland’s top startups and scaleups to watch. (Link)
News from Iceland
Þorbjörg Helga Vigfúsdóttir, CEO of Kara Connect, stresses the importance of startups to the Icelandic education and health systems. (Link)
I’m always looking for more EdTech news from Iceland. Please do send through any stories by replying to this email or by emailing hello@10digits.org. Thanks!
News from Latvia
Samples of teaching materials (print and digital) for over 650 topics in the new curriculum have been made available online. (Latvian)
How Latvian families can overcome the challenges of parenting in the digital age. (Lat)
News from Lithuania
National MOE invites EdTech providers to test their products and services in schools (Lith) as new digital resources are produced for Lithuanian schools worldwide. (Lith)
BitDegree continues to grow at pace - now forecasting €1mill profit this year. (Link)
Online tutoring startup, Mokosi, prepares for launch in Romania. (Link) (HT: tech philomaths)
Teachers Lead Tech reveals that 20% of all Lithuanian primary school teachers are now using their online learning environment. (Link)
News from Norway
Security concerns raised in schools as “all students use the same password.” (Link)
The argument for a national learning platform for public schools. (Link)
Datatilsynet argues for a nationwide review of Apple and Google products in schools. (Nor)
US educators are concerned about health and safety, learning loss and student engagement according to back to school research from Kahoot! (Link)
Laura Svenheim is named as Community Manager at Lær Kidsa Koding. (Nor)
Wide-ranging new research published by the University of Oslo studying digitisation in Norwegian schools. (Link)
News from Sweden
AcadeMedia reveals a strong performance in their annual report, whilst raising concern about students’ mental health and learning acquisition. (Swe, Swe)
Albert announces plans to move towards a public listing this year (Swe) as well as extending their content to include coding, geography and Swedish (Link)
Gimi raises SEK 18 million and confirms new board members. (Swe)
ILT Education extends their Polylino proposition into new global markets including Canada, the US and the UK. (Link)
Daniel Husberg is named as the new head of IST Sweden as Hilde Benno Vaage takes over operations in Norway. (Link)
Läxhjälpen reveals that a record number of schools are now using their services. (Swe)
NE unveils new municipality customers across Sweden. (Swe, Swe)
New board announced at StudyBee as the business focuses on marketing and sales. (Swe)
Tempus Information Systems receives investment from Malmkroppen, a subsidiary of Vitec. (Link)
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