Nordic EdTech News #57 : 2022-01-10
Your Weeks 50-52 and 1 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Good morning, happy new year and welcome to the first Nordic EdTech News of 2022. This newsletter rounds up everything that has happened across the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem since 13th December. If this year maintains the same pace as the last few weeks, then it will be a very notable year indeed. Let’s get straight into it!
Last year ended with a series of significant acquisitions and 2022 has begun in much the same vein as Nordic EdTech continues to consolidate. Conexus (Drammen, Norway) got the ball rolling with their acquisition of Skooler (Oslo, Norway) (Link). The deal will “make it easier for teachers to access information through integration with Microsoft Office and Teams…. both domestically and abroad.” Also in the school administration space, IST (Växjö, Sweden) confirmed just before Christmas that it had taken over Admentum (Stockholm, Sweden) (Link). The deal gives IST increased presence in Sweden’s independent school market and in the key area of student health.
Acquisitions have also continued in the content and resources space. Albert (Stockholm, Sweden) announced that it had bought Ampd AB, whose app Jaramba is one of Sweden's most popular for children on Apple and Google platforms (Link). The deal is worth SEK 10 million and broadens Albert’s content offer for their youngest users.
Meanwhile in the corporate learning market, TicTac (Malmö, Sweden) confirmed last week that it had purchased Key2Know (Copenhagen, Denmark) to accelerate its growth in the Danish market (Link). The agreement is part of TicTac’s “buy and build strategy…(to become) the leading Edtech company for corporates across Northern Europe.” Nordic businesses have also continued to acquire EdTechs outside our region - with Semcon (Gothenburg, Sweden) expanding their digital learning footprint by buying UK company Walkgrove (Link).
The past few weeks have also seen a flurry of investment rounds, fuelling Nordic EdTechs for further future growth. Most significantly, Copenhagen-based Famly secured a £14million investment (Link) from Susquehanna Growth Equity - it’s Europe’s largest-ever raise in Early Years software. In other news, Icelandic maths startup Evolytes secured a $520,000 financing round led by NSA Ventures (Link); Swedish school platform Meitner closed an additional round of SEK 10 million (Link) and Norway’s Vignita, a social education platform for skilled workers, confirmed the completion of a NOK 6.7M ($750k) capital funding round. (Link)
Hopefully, we’ll see some of these companies appearing in future issues of GSV’s EdTech 150 - their list of the most transformational private companies in digital learning. This year’s list includes three Nordic EdTechs - Attensi (Norway), Labster (Denmark) and Yousician (Finland). And if you’d like to learn more about Labster’s path to growth, do check out this interview with CEO, Michael Bodekaer Jensen (Link).
Here’s to a healthy and successful 2022 for everyone who reads and subscribes to Nordic EdTech News. I’m looking to expand on a successful 2021 when I published 23 newsletters, 13 C-suite interviews and covered over 3,000 news stories from across our ecosystem. On average, each newsletter was opened by 42% of users and generated nearly 1,600 views (+78% yoy) on the website. Thanks again for your support!
If you read this newsletter for Nordic EdTech analysis and insight, you may be interested to know that I also offer consultancy services. Want to find out how I could help you or your business in 2022? Let’s talk.
Best regards, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Great to see Danish EdTechs building a strong market presence in Germany. (Link)
The National Alliance for Technology Understanding has been launched to ensure that tech understanding is integrated across Danish education. (Link)
EdTech Denmark promotes a new webinar next week while waiting for BETT. (Link)
Læremiddel announces their 2021 year in review. (Link)
LEGO confirms record investment in digital across the company. (Link)
Peaqs won silver in the Business Education Category at the Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Awards 2021. (Link)
Shape Robotics upgrades 2021 revenue forecast and announces expected revenue growth of 200% in 2022. (Link)
News from Estonia
Estonian teachers improve their digital competence through the Digital Accelerator programme. (Link)
Education and EdTech were at the heart of Estonia’s presence at EXPO 2021 Dubai. (Link)
Clanbeat launches new student wellbeing initiative through a public private partnership with Accelerate Estonia. (Link)
News from Finland
Finnish network of teacher mentors helps build colleagues’ confidence in using digital teaching resources. (Link)
Henri Muurimaa, CEO of Eduten, outlines their approach to adapting Finnish education to global markets. (Link)
HEI Schools celebrate their sixth birthday (Link) and prepare for a new launch in Australia. (Link)
Nice feature on Kide Science after winning the Super Connect for Good competition last year. (Link)
LessonApp named Europe’s best education planning solution for 2021. (Link)
Interesting podcast on Finnish education featuring New Nordic Schools. (Link)
News from Iceland
Atlas Primer confirms that it has received another grant from the Icelandic Technology Development Fund to support their mission of making learning more inclusive. (Link)
Further pressure on Menntamálastofnun to reform its current centralised approach to creating textbooks and educational resources. (Link)
Jon Gunnar Þórðarson, CEO of Mussila, appeared on national broadcaster, RÚV, to talk about education, Mussila and innovation. (Link in Icelandic)
News from Latvia
Campaign launched to build a Latvian network of EdTech mentors. (Link)
3,000 football schools in Latvia and globally have registered on YoPlayDo, an online sports achievement tracking solution. (Link)
News from Lithuania
BitDegree launches new free front-end Web Development course. (Link)
News from Norway
More universities move to digital-only exams to provide “certainty” for students (Link) as some in the sector hope for faster digital progress in 2022. (Link)
Attensi confirms that their platform is now certified to integrate with SAP cloud solutions. (Link)
88% of public schools in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany are now using the itslearning LMS. “Feedback has been consistently positive.” (Link)
Kahoot! Kids launches - it’s a new app “designed to spark curiosity and encourage playful early childhood learning.” (Link)
Ludenso joins forces with Undervisningsplan.no to create the school of the future. (Link)
News from Sweden
Problems over Christmas with Stockholm’s school platform, which will cost +1,000 SEK per pupil in 2022. (Link)
Interesting podcast highlighting some of the challenges and opportunities in Swedish EdTech. (Link)
Experts highlight the importance of digital teaching materials in response to last year’s Teaching Aids Inquiry (Link) as Läromedelsförfattarna argues for increased clarity in statistics and reporting. (Link)
imagiLabs have been awarded a Stockholm Acceleration Scholarship, a 250,000 SEK grant to rapidly advance their work. (Link)
IST gives customers access to data in approved SS12000 format via EduCloud. (Link)
Learnster creates Learnster Resources to provide bite-sized chunks of content as part of their corporate training offer. (Link)
How a Norwegian educator uses Soundtrap to help students express themselves. (Link)
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