Edtech Insiders

Send us a text Josh Owens is the CEO and co-founder of Boost, a personal notification assistant for students on their smartphone. Josh was formerly the CEO of Supplykick, a growth-stage online marketplace retailer, has been a gubernatorial candidate for the State of Indiana, and has taught economics at Butler University and Indiana University.Boost connects directly to a student's Canvas account, and is designed to be easy & effective to use with no new work for administrators, instructors, or students; students who use Boost are 3% more likely to pass their class, they earn 4% higher grades, and they are 6% more likely to turn in any given assignment.Recommended ResourcesBoost Efficacy Research ReportsWhy Aren't Text Message Interventions Designed to Boost College Success? by Benjamin Castleman, UVANudge by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler

Send us a textEduflow is rapidly becoming one a best-in-class LMS, including a cutting edge peer grading system that both saves instructor time and provides learning opportunities for learners and graders alike. David Kofoed Wind, the CEO of Peergrade and Eduflow describes his unusual journey from university teaching to edtech in Copenhagen, Denmark, and how Eduflow is working to make online, asynchronous collaborative learning into a new paradigm for education.We also talk about Artificial Intelligence, and David is one of the rare people who both deeply understands AI and does not necessarily believe that it solves all core education problems; he states how a fully AI-based grading system would simply deprives learners from the educational experience of grading others' work.   David's Recommended Resource25 Years of Edtech by Martin Weller

Send us a textTopics this week include:The Impact on Education of the War in Ukraine 7.5 million children & youth with education disruptedStudents rally to support UkraineEdTech Startups in UkraineTop 10 Ukrainian EdTech Startups to Look Out for Amid WarMIT Ends Program in RussiaUkraine invasion underscores value of higher edFunding RoundsDisco, Toronto-Based CBC platform, gets $15mm series A from GSV and othersEdTech startup Tutored by Teachers raises over $10m Edtech Luca Raises a $3 Million Pre-seed Round and Starts Operations in MexicoSingapore edtech Genius Group files for $40M US IPOEdTech startup Vygo raises £1.5m to accelerate global borderless education supportFounders of Zerodha, Cred, others invest $1.7m in edtech platform KalviGoogle Dedicates $100mm Career Fund toward New Forms of Education and CertificationGoogle Creates $100 Million Fund for Skills Training ProgramInterview with Leila Makarechi - Chief Business Officer @ Merit America, the non-profit that is one of the first recipients of Google's investmentInterview with Guest:Justin Weinberg - Co-founder & CEO @ Aktiv LearningAktiv Learning has recently renamed itself (from 101edu), released a new mobile first math curriculum and continues to build world class platforms dedicated to active learning. What can Listeners Do:DONATE TODAY! to  Education Cannot WaitHire Upwork developers from Ukraine Donate, partner or volunteer to do mock interviews with

Send us a textOur guest this week is Jomayra Herrera - Partner @ Reach Capital, talking about Web3.Higher Ed BeatA pathway out of intergenerational poverty - Paul Quinn College offers admission to students and family membersU.S. House expands Pell Grants but excludes online edMobile EducationState of the mobile education market 2021Byju's Becoming an Edtech FlagshipByju’s acquires Austrian math app GeoGebra in €100M DealByju’s broadens play from edtech with brick-and-mortar tuition centersCan the EdTech Boom last? (Economist)RobogradersPROOF POINTS: a smarter robo-graderM&A RoundupVeritas Capital to acquire Houghton Mifflin HarcourtMediahuis Ventures leads €3.4m investment round in edtech company Tomorrow's EducationWorkwhile raises $13m series A led by Reach CapitalPost-recording Update: How the tech industry is responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine | TechCrunchA podpourri of learning options: pods, hubs, and microschools in the wake of the PandemicWill edtech investments reach $10b in 2022?

Send us a textJomayra Herrera is a partner at Reach Capital, one of the leading edtech venture capital firms, where she supports entrepreneurs that develop technology solutions for challenges in education from early childhood through future of work. In this conversation, we talk about education investing and life as an Edtech VC, as well as about Web3 and education and how it could increase equity and diversity in the crypto space.ResourcesLearning Earning and Web3: Why I'm Jumping In by Jomayra Herrera The Raging 2020s by Alec Ross

Send us a textTopics This Week:Education Stocks Take a Hit306 global education stocks lost $120B of value in 2021, down 40%Edtech Stocks hit a steep learning curvePotato Head Becomes a Digital TherapistPresenceLearning partnered with Hasbro to bring beloved characters & classic games to therapy platformFunding + M&A Round-upMunic-based Edurino raised €3.35M to advance digital learning for kidsFormer Twitter India head Manish Maaheshwari’s Invact Metaversity raises funds @ $33M valuationWhy these Udemy execs left to build a better UdemyPaper secures $343M CAD with US schools drawn to its remote tutoring techEvidence as a ServiceGUEST: Karl Rectanus - Co-founder & CEO @ LearnPlatformLearnPlatform releases subscription to help solutions providers lower costs, build EdTech evidence that districts & states trustHomeschoolingGUEST: Kelly Smith - Founder & CEO @ PrendaPost-Recording Updates:Edtech is luring students to cheat with fake answer sitesEdtech company Cengage names publishing vet as CTOEdtech market to reach S288B USD by 2031 (comprehensive research by FMI)Educators have som

Send us a textJoshua Wöhle is the CEO of UK-based Edtech company Mindstone,  a platform that helps people learn faster, remember more and get things done. Previously, Joshua was Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at SuperAwesome, the biggest kids technology company in the world, which was acquired by Epic Games in the summer of 2020. Joshua is an EdTech enthusiast, advisor and Investor.Mindstone is a platform that allows users to automatically create the best learning pathways from content available online (articles, podcasts, videos, you name it) to help learners reach your learning goals, while at the same time inserting elements of discovery to bring the joy back into learning.Unusually among Edtech companies, Mindstone has received both VC funding and crowdfunding, which we discuss in this episode.

Send us a textOur guest this week: Alberto Arenaza, Edtech Insider Extraordinaire and Cofounder of  Transcend Network and author of the Transcend NewsletterFeatured ResourceCheck out the amazing new Edtech Dash with over 25,000 Edtech companies    - Brighteye & Dealroom release open access EdTech dashboardTopics covered this week:Higher Ed & GovernmentHouse passes College Transparency ActFree community college is “Off the Table”Personalized Learning gets (Social) EmotionalCZI connects students & teachers via “Along”Promise of personalized learning for EdTech startupsWayfinderLearnfully Empowerly2022 EdTech Valuations- Ripe for Repricing?EdTech hits a steep learning curveEdtech AcquisitionsCengage Group to acquire Infosec for $190.8 millionStudytube acquired Springest & closed $30m series BGoStudent acquired Seneca Learning & Tus Media GroupBrightchamps acquired Education 10xAviso Retention acquired by Watermark Insights after 10 years of bootstrappingModern Campus acquired Signal VineBook Bans Threaten Intellectual FreedomVoters of Tomorrow to distribute copies of ‘Maus’ and ‘Beloved’ in Texas and Virginia  

Send us a textThis week, we sat down with Jonathan Finkelstein, CEO of Credly, which was acquired by Pearson this week for $200m, and with Rhys Spence, lead author of the recent Europe Edtech Funding Report 2022. HEADLINES:1. COVID beat Interesting linkedin post by a teacher caught our eye. There was also a series of articles on Edsurge and elsewhere about life as a COVID principal, pandemic brain science, and student mental health.  Big theme of ‘no way to go back’ . 2. Project Kitty Hawk takes off UNC’s $97M Plan to Reach Adult Online Learners hopes to become an alternative to traditional OPM providers and a way to create 120 online programs over the next years,. 3. New data shows Gen Z prefers alt pathways for higher edA Survey of American high schoolers found that:45% prefer programs they can complete in two years or less—a significant shift from pre-pandemic levels. Nearly 70% want on-the-job training like apprenticeships and internships during their college experience.86% of those surveyed say they feel pressure—from parents, teachers, and society at large—to pursue that specific pathway, even if it’s not the right choice for them4. Funding RoundsSpain-based Domestika, an online platform for creatives, received a $100m round at a $1.3b valuation, becoming the latest Edtech Unicorn.Fourthrev, a UK-based career accelerator program, announced an $8m Series A.Singapore-based college application platform Cialfo received a $40m funding round.Indian Upskilling platform Scaler Academy received a $55 million funding roundIndian edtech Wise raised $5mArabic “​​EdTech platform Playbook announces that it has closed pre-seed funding with $700,000. Post-Recording Updates:Studytube acquires Springest & closes $30m series BGoStudent acquires Seneca Learning & Tus Media Group

Send us a textEva Brown is the author of “The Next Right Step: From Teaching to Edtech”. Eva was a classroom teacher for many years before transitioning into Edtech with Scholastic, HMH and now at Formative. Eva runs a consultancy at Eva Brown Consulting to help transitioning teachers take the next right step in their careers.Recommended Resources for Transitioning TeachersJeff Patterson, CEO of gaggle shares weekly lists of edtech job openings.Linkedin Learning Courses on Edtech (such as this or this)Coursera courses on online learning (such as this, this or this)HolonIQ's overview of Edtech and their 2021 Global Learning LandscapeEdtech Job BoardsEdsurge Job BoardsReach Capital Edtech Job BoardOwl Ventures Edtech Job BoardGSV Edtech Job BoardLearn Capital Job BoardBrighteye Edtech Portfolio Openings (Europe)JoinEdtech.org