Nordic EdTech News #86: 2023-04-03
Your Weeks 12 - 13 update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Nordic EdTech News is the best way to keep up with the EdTech ecosystem across 8 Nordic and Baltic countries. I curate it from company updates and a wide variety of international sources. It’s a passion project of mine - the rest of my time is spent advising / consulting the companies who lead the future of learning. If you’d like to find out more, drop me an email.
It’s a bit of a shock to be back in snowy and sunny northern Sweden after a week in London and three days at the Bett Show! But it was great to meet up with so many customers, friends and newsletter subscribers at the event.
The Nordic EdTech ecosystem had a really strong presence with four national stands in the Global Showcase area (Denmark, Finland, Lithuania and Norway) along with a good number of individual companies exhibiting. Particular congratulations to our three Bett Awards Winners : Ludenso (Secondary - free digital content, app or open educational resource), Lyfta Education (Transformational Impact) and Mussila (Educational resource for parents or home learning).
In other news, Shape Robotics have concluded an oversubscribed share issue that secured over DKK 36 million in further funding (Link). This investment will support their continued European expansion including “the establishment of local teams in at least one new European market” and the “recruitment of key employees and the build-up of inventories.” The business also launched an integration of the Fable robot and the new Blockly app with Samsung's interactive whiteboard at the Bett Show (Link).
Whilst in Denmark, Humani confirmed a $2.2 million pre-seed round to develop its platform that aims to “unleash humans’ inner superpower.” In an interview with Tech.eu, the startup’s CEO Anders Mayntzhusen confirmed that the solution identifies where “individuals get most ‘energy’ and where, in the organisation, they would be most likely to ‘grow’ and be ‘happy’.”
Two sizable recent investments to also report in Norwegian EdTech. Fynd Reality, a provider of training / learning programmes developed with AR and VR, has raised NOK 6.5 million in a new funding round from regional investors including Kilde and First Seed (Link). The investment will enable the company to scale “much faster” globally. Separately, Videocation, a corporate learning course / content provider, has raised NOK 16.6 million in a new round to continue growth in the Norwegian and Spanish markets (Link).
Also in Norway, a merger has been confirmed between Universitetsforlaget AS and Aschehoug (Link). The former has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aschehoug since 2000 - a reorganization of the business’ education operations is now anticipated. Heidi Norland, Universitetsforlaget’s new Head of Publishing, is clear where the focus needs to be: “They (Aschehoug) have the knowledge of the digital student that we need. We have to imagine the student of the future, then we have to know what they do in the fully digital school.”
HundrED wants to amplify your education and EdTech innovation - the call for the Global Collection 2024 is now open. Share your work and join a celebration of the world's top 100 education innovations in Helsinki in November. Click here to apply.
There’ll be no Nordic EdTech News on 17 April as I’m moving house. We’re heading back to Skellefteå in Swedish Lapland, so I’ll be back in your inbox on 24th April!
In the meantime, if you’ve got a story that you’d like me to include in a future issue of this newsletter, please email hello@10digits.org, tag me on Twitter or LinkedIn or use #nordicedtech / #balticedtech. Sharing this email with your network is also always much appreciated!
Best regards, Jonathan
News from Denmark
More than nine out of 10 Danes believe that mobile phones should be banned in classes. Yet school leaders, teachers and students believe that some careful limits to their use will be sufficient. (Link)
Vejen Municipality drops plans to teach secondary school pupils online for two lessons a week. (Link)
Drama Studio had been nominated for "Spilprisen 2023", in the 'Best Emergent Experience' category. (Link)
LearningBank and HiBob confirm a new integration that “allows companies to streamline HR processes and engage top talent.” (Link)
Tanja Schjellerup, CEO of Skolen Online, has been named a “Great Companies Women Entrepreneur Award Winner for 2023.” (Link)
The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) announces that exams in several subjects will now be done with pen and paper as a result of ChatGPT. (Link)
News from Estonia
How does Estonia integrate digital skills into lifelong learning and encourage the use of online career guidance tools? (Link)
ALPA Kids was recognized as one of the Top 100 startups in the CEE Startup Challenge VIII, powered by Vestbee. (Link)
Great to see EdTech Estonia co-organising an EdTech Day in Bern Switzerland. (Link)
Tallinn University Centre for Educational Technology and the University of Tartu will host a “Conference of Innovative Education: Fostering Sustainable Digital Innovation in Schools.” (Link - 25th April)
News from Finland
The EdTech Disruption Day will be run for the first time as a national event with the Keuda Vocational School. (Link - 17th April)
Brilliant to see the first batch of South African TVET students using Funzi’s YES resources to learn vital employability and 21st Century skills. (Link)
Big fortnight for Kide as their collaboration continues with DreamWorks’ Animation Gabby's Dollhouse (Link) and as they land their first customer in Texas (Link).
The latest Oppiva Invest call for funding applications opens on 17 April. Closing date is 16 May and full details here.
Research from Sanoma Pro suggests that ready-made learning materials save Finnish teachers 13 hours a week. (Link)
News from Iceland
Interesting to read about the Stjórnvísi Digital Education Professional Group, who aim “to create an active platform for sharing knowledge, methods and experiences of digital/electronic educational material within companies and institutions.”
News from Latvia
Edurio launched the second part of their Pupil Safeguarding Review in England’s schools. (Link)
200 EdTech experts and teachers met to share experience and best practice (Link).
News from Lithuania
Teachers Lead Tech closed a €150,000 funding round with investment from a number of angel investors. (Link)
According to Ventury.app, Three Cubes raised €255,000 from FIRST PICK in Jan 2023 (Link and HT Tech Philomaths)
News from Norway
The Norwegian government published proposals for a new Education Act. (Link)
Creaza won an EdTech Cool Award from EdTech Digest in the category of "arts, music, or creative solution." (Link)
Great coverage in Aftenposten for Curipod, who are now adding 1,000 teachers a day to their service. (Link)
H5P Group, who develop interactive content creation tools, have appointed Nils Viken from itslearning as CRO to drive global growth. (Link)
IKT-Norge raises concern that cuts to the budget for digital teaching resources will increase digital inequality in schools. (Link)
New research from Saudi Arabia shows how Kahoot! boosts higher ed students’ engagement, motivation, and academic performance. (Link)
MakeKit revealed a new range of educational robots at Bett (Link) and won a #KidsJudgeBett Award.
News from Sweden
New large-scale study looks at teaching practice in Swedish classrooms. (Link)
Sumdog, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Albert Group, has landed a school group deal in the US. (Link)
Freedrum, who make a virtual drum kit and associated learning resources, have raised SEK 10 million from angel investors. (Link)
Västerås municipality has signed a deal with Haldor to integrate its tools into all levels of education from pre-school to adult education. (Link)
Grattis to Anna Kraft who has taken over as CEO at Lexplore. (Link)
Liber and Binogi have confirmed a new digital collaboration to better “support students and teachers.” (Link)
Sana launched a L&D leader’s guide to AI in the digital workplace (Link) and confirmed plans for an AI Summit in May (Link).
Skolon landed another contract in Norway - this time with Tromsø. (Link)
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