Nordic EdTech News #91: 2023-06-19
Your Weeks 23-24 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.
Hello and thanks for reading today’s Nordic EdTech News. Welcome to the +40 new subscribers who have signed up in the last 2 weeks - your support is much appreciated!
Today’s newsletter is hitting inboxes slightly later than usual, so that I can update subscribers on news that Brighteye Ventures, the European EdTech VC. has successfully completed the final close of its second fund at €100 million (Link).
That’s double the size of their first fund and bolsters “Brighteye’s commitment to investing in promising early-stage Edtech companies at Seed and Series A stages across Europe.” New investors in the second fund include the European Investment Fund (EIF), Jacobs Foundation, Partners in Equity as well as family offices from around the world. Congratulations to everyone at Brighteye - it’s great news for European EdTech and a real vote of confidence in the regional ecosystem.
As is this week’s other big news story, which relates to UNIwise, the Danish EdTech company that helps universities “deliver secure, accessible and efficient digital assessments and exams” (Link). Monterro, a leading Swedish B2B growth investor has acquired a majority stake in the business, enabling UNIwise “to accelerate the product development of its cloud-based platform, WISEflow, and further accelerate international growth.”
Børsen reported that the deal was for a three-digit million sum but no specific details have been disclosed. Their story also reveals that UNIwise’s owners received more than 30 offers to buy the business.
Whilst we’re in Denmark, Mattias Tesfaye, Minister for Children and Education, has reiterated his desire to change legislation so that children aged 0 to 6 use screens as little as possible while they are in day care. Opposition party, SF, are now advocating for a ban on screens and phones in folkeskolen - unless local school boards choose to allow them.
Meanwhile in Norway, the expert group for digital learning analysis has completed its work. They propose that NOK 130 million should be set aside annually as a grant scheme for innovation, research and development in AI and its use in education (Link).
IKT-Norge welcomed the move, commenting: “Like the expert committee, IKT-Norge believes that it is the government's responsibility to contribute to the establishment of a market with fertile ground for both large and small suppliers that ensure innovation and diversity of educational content that has been developed for Norwegian schools.”
Separately, Minister of Education, Tonje Brenna, has clarified her recent comments on the digitisation of Norwegian schools, suggesting that: “It is the politicians who have been digitally unconscious, not the teachers” (Link). More importantly, she emphasises the importance of expanding the “teachers’ toolbox” and argues that: “We need that to find a good balance between digital and analogue.”
However that approach is, unfortunately, currently absent in Sweden. A new, joint article from Lotta Edholm, Minister of Education and Parisa Liljestrand, Minister of Culture makes their intention clear: “Now we are slowing down digitization in schools and investing in textbooks.”
In response, Robert Walldén, a teacher educator at Malmö University, argues that this either-or position is “fruitless” (and that “Both physical books and digital texts (are) necessary in school.” This echoes recent feedback from Norwegian teachers: “If the question is tablet or pen, then the answer is yes, thank you, both.”
I‘m delighted to be speaking at Learning Conference this September in Stockholm. It’s an exciting, new event focused on corporate learning - tickets available now.
And finally, applications for the next cohort of the Female Edtech Fellowship, run by the European Edtech Alliance, are now open. The closing date is 6th July 2023.
As always, 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 very welcome!
Glad Midsommar! Jonathan
News from Denmark
50 out of 98 municipalities are making savings in schools this year. (Link)
Diplomasafe has received new investment from investors including Ugly Duckling Ventures and KMD to drive growth. (Link)
Drama Studio is a finalist in this year's prestigious Gee Learning Games Awards.
GoLearn won best subscription solution at Dansk Erhverv’s 2023 E-commerce awards. (Link)
Gyldendal e-Learning and Medicin.dk have teamed up to develop new digital content to reduce the risk of medicine-related errors. (Link)
Labster won an EdTech Breakthrough Award for the third consecutive year. (Link)
Shape Robotics have increased guidance for their 2023 revenues to DKK 145 to 155 million after another sizable new deal (Link) as their new Chairman sets his sights on eight new markets (Link).
Tinyfarms, who provide “educational indoor farms for middle schools”, have confirmed David Johan Christensen as their new Chairman. (Link)
Good to see the impact of WOOF in Danish classrooms (Link) as the solution is shortlisted for Hundred's 2024 global collection (Link).
News from Estonia
Amazing to see the recent growth in Estonian EdTech (Link) and get the full story at London EdTech Week’s Estonian Networking Event (Link).
Digitalisation and personalisation – how the Estonian universities look into the future.
News from Finland
You’ll find all of the updates from the ceremony to crown Finland’s best learning solutions here.
3DBear's immersive space is revolutionising education for special needs students at Savo Vocational College. (Link)
Edita Publishing is splitting into two separate companies. The learning business will form Edita Oppiminen Oy, a new independent limited company. (Link)
Eduten delivered significant improvements in both teaching and learning outcomes in a pilot project conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science of Mongolia. (Link)
Fantastic results from the first Funzi YES programme at Majuba TVET College in South Africa. (Link)
Oppiva Invest's survey about learning solutions that support basic skills finds that educators “use various technologies and digital solutions” to support their teaching. (Link)
News from Iceland
LearnCove has received a marketing development grant from the Icelandic Technology Development Fund to power their growth / expansion plans. (Link)
News from Latvia
Team “SkolaGuru" won the "HackCodeX" international programming event with a tool that helps parents choose the best school for their child. (Link)
News from Lithuania
EdTech Week Lithuania will take place between 16 and 9 October. (Link)
BBright receives the first investment from Jaunaragiai, a new fund launched by Lietuvos Junior Achievement. (Link)
Congratulations to Teachers Lead Tech, which was named Best Learning & Education solution at the World Summit Awards. (Link)
News from Norway
Strong growth in online education for vocational students, but only half complete their courses. (Link)
1 in 5 Norwegian students use ChatGPT for schoolwork. (Link)
Kahoot! is launching a range of new features that integrate generative AI tools across their product suite. (Link)
More than 200,000 students across Norway, Sweden and Germany solved 65 million exercises as part of Kikora’s Math Marathon 2023 (Link). They’ve also announced plans to launch a new test tool in Autumn 2023 (Link).
Udir has allocated NOK 100 million to 49 different projects as part of their plan to develop “learning materials…without a market basis.” (Link)
News from Sweden
Albert and Bonnier Carlsen have confirmed the launch of "Learn with Albert: The Math Adventure", their maths textbook for 6-9 year olds. (Link)
Pareto Business School has launched a part-time online "mini-MBA" where students learn through case studies of Nordic growth companies. (Link)
Spotify sells Soundtrap, its music-creation tool, back to its founders. The solution is widely used in schools and colleges worldwide. (Link)
Studora begins a new collaboration with Natur & Kultur as it aims to provide “a comprehensive digital solution for students.” (Link)
The City of Stockholm has chosen Tempus to provide digital tools for attendance, schedule and resource planning in preschool settings. (Link)
Great profile of TicTac CEO, Carolina Faxe, outlining their extraordinary growth and continued ambition. (Link)
Patrik Slettman, CEO of TRUE, on how their blockchain-enabled certificates act as a “tool for communication, transparency, and for building trust.” (Link)
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