Nordic EdTech News #59 : 2022-02-07
Exclusive Nordic EdTech funding report and regular news update
Hello, good morning and welcome to this week’s Nordic EdTech News!
In the almost 2.5 years that I’ve been producing this newsletter, one of the most frequent questions I’ve been asked is “How much EdTech investment was raised across the Nordics and Baltics last year?” And I’ve never had an accurate answer UNTIL TODAY!
In an exclusive collaboration with Brighteye Ventures, I’m delighted to release the very first definitive Nordic EdTech funding report. The link to download the full report follows below, but in summary:
Across the eight Nordic and Baltic countries, $310 million was raised in VC investment in 2021. That’s 6x 2020’s figures and 3x the previous high of 2018.
With 45 transactions in 2021 (up from 28 in 2020), the Nordics is the second most active EdTech investment market in Europe (behind the UK).
Denmark is the biggest national EdTech market in the Nordics and the fifth largest in Europe raising $144 million in 2021. (Thanks in part to 2 big rounds from Eloomi and Labster.)
We’re seeing a maturing Nordic EdTech landscape with an increasing number of larger companies raising larger amounts. In fact, 84% of all rounds in 2021 were between $15 and $100 million
Huge thanks to Hege Tollerud and Rhys Spence at Brighteye Ventures for all of their help and hard work in pulling this together.
This Nordic report should be read alongside Brighteye’s European Edtech Funding Report for 2021. That report can be found here and a recording of the online launch event here.
Whilst we’re on the subject of Nordic EdTech investment, there are four notable deals to highlight from the last two weeks. Icelandic learning platform LearnCove closed a $780k investment round, led by InfoCapital, to accelerate international sales and take their “growth potential to a new level” (Link). Sweden’s Zebrain confirmed a new SEK 27 million round for their digital coaching business and outlined expansion plans across the Nordics (Link).
Also in Sweden, AcadeMedia announced that they have increased their investment in Hypocampus - they now own 36% of the business (Link), which is looking to international markets after a successful start in France. Norway’s House of Math finalised a NOK 37 million round to accelerate growth as users of its resource and tutoring platform grew from just over 3,000 to half a million. (Link)
It’s great to see female founders and CEOs well represented in the above investments and also to see Nordic female founders leading the way in the newly-launched Female Edtech Fellowship from the European Edtech Alliance. Congrats to Kadri Tuisk (Clanbeat), Claudia Rademaker (Dugga), Dora Palfi (imagiLabs), Sari Hurme-Mehtälä (Kide Science) and Monika Katkute (Teachers Lead Tech). (Link)
If you’re an early-stage Nordic EdTech founder then do check out the EdTech Garage. This new initiative is designed as a gateway into the European EdTech ecosystem where early-stage founders can learn from each other and get support, including community, matchmaking and resources.
xEdu is back with a F2F acceleration programme starting in May. The application period starts on 16th February with an online kick-off event at 11:00 CET. The link for the online event and the online application form can be found at xedu.co/apply.
Finally, don’t miss this forthcoming virtual event: “Nordic schools during COVID-19: lessons learned” (Link). It takes place on 17th February from 1500 CET and has a great panel of school leaders, researchers, politicians and union leaders.
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
Critical report in Ekstra Bladet highlights challenges for CanopyLAB. (Link)
Interesting feature with Pernille Wendel Mehl, the new CEO at Clio (Link) as they start rolling out their updated teaching platform. (Link)
Applications open for the third cohort of the EduHub mentor scheme. (Link)
EdTech Denmark announced a new board (Link) as they and uQualio form part of a successful Erasmus+ project. (Link)
Nearly half of all Danish children and young people have experienced problems online, according to a new survey from Save the Children. (Link)
News from Estonia
The importance of media literacy education in Estonian schools. (Link)
Detailed summary of everything Estonian EdTech. (Link)
Clanbeat announced their expansion into Georgia and provided new resources in Georgian. (Link)
Mentornaut are included in Eu-Startup’s list of “10 exceptionally promising Estonian startups to watch in 2022 and beyond.” (Link)
News from Finland
The annual competition to identify the best Finnish digital learning solutions is now open. Details here.
Great series of podcasts with CEOs from Education Alliance Finland (Link), Kide Science (Link), Positive Learning (Link) and School Day (Link).
Deadline for applications to join the 2022 spring cohort at the Helsinki EdTech Incubator has been extended. (Link)
Sanoma Pro conducts an external audit for diversity and inclusiveness in their learning materials. (Link)
New VR game can assess children's ADHD symptoms. (Link)
News from Iceland
Good profile on Beedle in the Icelandic press after gaining a place in the GSV Elite 200 list. (Link)
Icelandic students have answered 500,000 questions to date on the Evolytes platform. (Link)
The team behind TVÍK (aka the technologically advanced Icelandic teacher) won Gulleggið 2022, Iceland’s oldest entrepreneurship competition. (Link)
News from Latvia
Latvian university teachers improve their digital skills in the USA. (Link)
Riga City Council has signed an agreement with Riga TechGirls for schools to participate in free digital growth master classes for teachers. (Link)
News from Lithuania
This post from Monika Katkute, Founder at Teachers Lead Tech, was widely shared online and her argument for "patient, joyful growth" will, I’m sure, resonate with many readers.
Zabolis Partners acquires Šviesa, an education publishing business. They already have investments in Eduka and TAMO. (Link)
News from Norway
Comprehensive summary of the ongoing debate about digitization in education posted in Lærerbloggen (Link) as parents struggle to keep up. (Link)
Teaching staff in higher education did not have the skills or support when lectures moved online in 2020. (Link)
Kahoot! launches in Simplified and Traditional Chinese (Link) and confirms new integration with Vimeo. (Link)
Ludenso announce new collaboration with Ungt Entreprenørskap. (Link)
News from Sweden
Allbry (formerly Snaptive) closes funding round and confirms new board. (Link)
Dugga supports parents, students and teachers to prepare for national tests. (Link)
Håkan Furevik will be the new CEO of IST Sverige. He was previously CEO of Admentum, which IST bought at the end of 2021. (Link)
ILT Inläsningstjänst confirms that 80% of Swedish preschool children (+400,000) now have access to their Polyglutt product. (Link)
Natur & Kultur celebrate their 100th birthday. Grattis! (Link)
New research from Nationalencyklopedin (NE) shows that students prefer digital learning materials. (Link)
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