The EdTech Episode #3

The EdTech Episode #3

Brighteye Ventures, one of Europe’s leading EdTech VCs, continues to release some great resources for the sector. Their Practical Guide to CMOs is a series of short reports created alongside leading EdTech CMOs to help founders craft an effective marketing strategy. The first guide was developed in collaboration with the CMO of Kahoot, the Norwegian game based learning platform

Company/Institution News

Arizona State University, backed by the TPG Rise Fund, is reportedly planning to launch a B2B workforce education company.

Microsoft has partnered with OpenClassrooms to recruit and train 1,000 Ai students

Ubongo, a Tanzania-based edutainment company, has won the Next Billion EdTech Prize

Huohua Siwei, a Chinese online education platform, has raised a US$40M Series C round. Northern Light Venture Capital and Longhu Capital led.

Tinkergarten, which connects families to outdoors activities for their children, has raised US$21M from WndrCo.

Mursion, which provides VR workforce training simulations, has raised a US$8M Series A round. New Markets Venture Partners led.

DigitalEd, which offers online courseware, assessment, and content for STEM education, has raised $7M. Dorado Capital Partners participated.

Xiaoyang Edu, a cloud-based learning network platform, has closed a $22.3M Series B round. China Growth Capital, Yunqi Partners and New Oriental participated

Empowered Education, an online school provider for health coaches and wellness practitioners, raised $8M in Series A funding from Rethink Education.

Entangled Group, an education venture studio, has closed a $15M Series B lead by Tencent.

CollegeVine, a provider of high school guidance and college admissions advising, closed a $24M Series B. Investors include Maywood Street Investments, Fidelity Investments, Morningside Technology Ventures and University Ventures.

Academia.edu, a mobile app for academic research, raised $16M in Series C funding. Tencent led, and was joined by Social Discovery Ventures.

Chegg closed $700M of Convertible Senior Notes. Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch, Allen & Company LLC, Barrington Research and Northland Capital Markets acted as the initial note purchasers

Shaw Academy, an Online CPD courses for professional development, has secured a $7.9M Series A investment led by Beach Point Capital Management

EdgeMakers has merged with STEM Learning Lab

Nickelodeon has acquired Sparkler, the creator of an early-childhood education platform.

O2B Kids has acquired The Village Academy, an early education services company.

New Work (previously Xing) has acquired the recruitment platform Honeypot for $64M

Instructure has agreed to acquire Mastery Connect

CampusLogic has acquired Funderbolt, a College Student Fundraising platform

OKpanda Live has been acquired by ALC Press, a Japanese Education Technology company

No new EdTech funds were raised since our last update.

At a time when we have just a dozen years to keep global warming under the recommended 1.5C, little regulation is focused on controlling the largest contributor of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions - Animal Agriculture.

Per capita meat consumption reached record levels in 2018, while emerging market income growth will make meat-rich western diets affordable to billions of consumers in the coming decades. The most comprehensive analysis of the food system’s impact on the environment has determined that a huge reduction in meat-eating is ‘essential’ to avoid dangerous climate change.

MeatTech may not be term you are familiar with, but the $90B meat industry is going through a period of unparalleled innovation. Viable alternatives to traditional animal sources are emerging, including lab-grown meat, seafood substitutes, and insect protein, that could hit a dinner plate near you soon.