Nordic EdTech News #62: 2022-03-21
Your Weeks 10 & 11 update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Hello, good morning and welcome to today’s Nordic EdTech News. Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to this newsletter in the past few weeks - your support is much appreciated.
Similar themes lead the agenda in today’s newsletter as the one published two weeks ago. Our community of EdTechs across the Nordics and Baltics continues to respond to the devastating impact of the war in Ukraine. It’s impossible to highlight all the companies who are making their products and services available to help, but it’s heartening to see so many companies from our region included in this list compiled by the European Edtech Alliance. (If your company is not featured, then please do add it to the 50+ solutions already there.)
We’ve also seen another acquisition of a UK EdTech business by a leading Swedish company. This time ILT Education have confirmed the purchase (Link) of Giglets Education, who are the “leading literacy development SaaS platform targeted towards K12 education in Scotland and Wales, with a growing position in England and Ireland.” The deal follows ILT’s acquisition of Swedish competitor Ugglo last September and opens up opportunities to rapidly grow its Polylino proposition in the large UK market. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed - congratulations to both parties.
Access to funding to fuel growth is a key challenge whenever I speak to EdTechs across our 8 countries. This new guide to raising a Seed or Series A funding round from Brighteye Ventures should be invaluable to entrepreneurs at those stages. Likewise, news that Educapital intends to invest their new €150m fund in 20 European EdTech startups from post-seed to Series B is sure to continue the recent funding boom across European EdTech (Link).
Educapital is, of course, notable as one of only a few European funds led by female GPs. Nordic and Baltic female CEOS are unsurprisingly well represented in HolonIQ’s list of the top 200 women leading global EdTech startups. (Link)
Applications are now open for the 10th Annual EdTechX All Stars Awards that celebrate the startups and scaleups shaping the global EdTech industry. The winners are chosen using a variety of indicators including revenue growth, scale, innovation, and efficacy of ESG / impact initiatives. Recent Nordic successes include DigiExam, Eduten, Kahoot!, Kognity, Lingvist and Yousician. Full details on how to apply here.
Whilst on Kahoot!, do read this interview with Eilert Hanoa, their CEO. It’s packed with invaluable insights about their business, engaging with educators and scaling.
And finally, I’m looking forward to meeting up with lots of Nordic EdTechs at BETT in London this week. The N8 dinner, sponsored by AWS, will be a highlight - there’s a few spots left so sign up here quickly if you’d like to join us!
All best regards, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Cloud guidance from Datatilsynet (the Danish Data Protection Agency) says that Danish companies should "as a general rule" not use American cloud services that store data in the USA. (Link)
Digital tools should focus on helping / supporting teachers and learners according to Clio’s CEO, Pernille Wendel Mehl. (Link)
Kombit has received serious criticism from the Danish Data Protection Agency as a result of data breaches in the Aula school platform. (Link)
Labster hits 5 million users and celebrates its 10th anniversary. (Link)
Management reshuffle at Shape Robotics as current CFO André Fehrn becomes CEO and David Johan Christensen moves into an Executive VP position. (Link)
News from Estonia
ALPA Kids wins the People's Favourite Award in the Estonian Language Competition of the Year. (Link)
Edumus launches an online school "Школа надії" (School of Hope) which supports Ukrainian children to continue their education in Ukrainian and offers jobs to Ukrainian teachers. (Link)
Triumf Health offers updated Hero product to schools across Europe and launches a new version in Ukrainian. (Link)
News from Finland
Don’t miss the EdTech Incubator Gala from the Helsinki Education Hub. This online event is on 31st March and you can sign up here.
The City of Helsinki launches a trial project seeking companies to develop ethical AI solutions in support of “personalised learning processes and individualised learning materials.” (Link)
New Nordic Schools partner with Winsford Global Education to bring their uniquely Finnish approach to schools in Brazil. (Link)
News from Iceland
Interesting feature about Learncove, their pivot and plans for international expansion. (Link)
Mussila launches Wordplay, a new reading comprehension app. (Link)
News from Latvia
Edurio’s latest report highlights the impact of parental engagement on learning and its importance to schools. (Link)
News from Lithuania
Memby offers free online lessons for all Ukrainian students covering the full national curriculum. (Link)
Teachers Lead Tech begin a new series of “Safe To Feel" events for primary school teachers in Lithuania and Poland. (Link)
News from Norway
Great to see the Norwegian EdTech community meeting face-to-face again. (Link)
“Norway must build a national infrastructure for digital teaching aids. “ Read the full story here.
Newschool will be working in Romania on the EU QUEST project, which aims to improve “the competencies of mainstream teachers from primary and secondary educational levels in using digital learning in education.” (Link)
Mathus, a new online multiplayer cooperative maths game, has launched. Almost 10,000 players from Norway since April 2021 and nearly a million tasks already solved.
The Riverside Company, a US-based private equity company, has exited from its position in Mintra, a Norwegian elearning business. (Link)
Pickatale expands into Denmark, offering its ebook platform to all schools free of charge. (Link)
News from Sweden
The teaching aids debate continues as new research identifies that “there are advantages to digital teaching materials that the textbook lacks” (Link) while a new survey from Läromedelsförfattarna argues the case for textbooks (Link).
Gleechi confirms a new agreement with Fagskolen Oslo, who will use their VR Training Platform “to evolve and bolster training capabilities. (Link)
Swedish Edtech Industry asks if Skolsverige is now ready for digitalisation. (Link)
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