🖥️ Digital Infrastructure + HolonIQ Back to School Summit
The digital infrastructure catch-up in education is in full swing. HolonIQ identified digital infrastructure as a critical driver of investment, and we now see this actively playing out in the market. Join the HolonIQ Summit in NYC on 10-11 Sept.
Happy Monday 👋
The digital infrastructure catch-up in education is in full swing. HolonIQ identified digital infrastructure as a critical driver of investment in earlier analysis, and we now see this actively playing out in the market. This week, Instructure’s planned acquisition by KKR for $4.8 billion echoes PowerSchool’s acquisition by Bain Capital earlier this year. PowerSchool also launched MyPowerHub to enhance school communications, while Sdui Group expanded its communications offerings through the acquisition of FoxEducation and raised $22.8 million in funding. These moves underscore a heightened focus on data-driven solutions and the importance of core infrastructure to support a long-term transition to digital integration in education.
🍎 Tickets Selling Fast for the Back to School Summit - NYC 10-11 Sept
Tickets are selling fast for the HolonIQ Back to School Summit in New York on September 10–11 in New York City. The 'Back to School' Summit will bring together 500 influential leaders from Pre-K to Higher Education and Workforce, Philanthropic foundations, leading education companies and policymakers, major institutional investors, and technology leaders for roundtables, presentations, and networking. 2024 will follow three broad tracks; Foundations & Philanthropy, Higher Education & Workforce and Technology & Finance. Register here.
💪 Power Moves
📚KKR to Acquire Instructure in $4.8 Billion Edutech Deal. KKR, a global investment firm, has agreed to acquire Instructure, the company behind the Canvas LMS, in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $4.8 billion.
😔Online Education Platform 2U Files for Bankruptcy. 2U, an Online Program Management (OPM), has filed for bankruptcy after facing financial challenges and was unable to continue operations.
🤝Major Partnership to Boost Career Opportunities. ETS Solutions, Jobs for the Future Labs, and AstrumU have partnered to transform workforce opportunities for over 10 million skilled career seekers.
✍️ Tutoring and Homework Help
📚 Significant Learning Loss for Middle School Students in US. The testing group NWEA estimates that last year's eighth graders need an entire school year's worth of additional instruction to catch up due to learning loss, particularly affecting middle schoolers and Hispanic students.
🤷♀️ Tutoring Programs Failing to Deliver Results. New research from the Center for Independent Studies shows that programs providing small group tutoring sessions for struggling students are not improving learning outcomes despite significant spending on these initiatives.
🖥️ AI in Education
🤖 UN Partners Launch Platform on Futures of Higher Education and AI. The UN University (UNU) and UNESCO's IESALC launched a collaborative platform to study the trends, opportunities and challenges related to the future of higher education and artificial intelligence.
📣 Anthology Integrates Generative AI into Blackboard LMS. Anthology, an education technology company, has added generative AI capabilities to its Blackboard LMS to aid in tasks like lesson planning, student assessment, and multimedia creation.
🤖 Philippines Boosts AI Development with New Initiatives. The Philippines government has launched the National AI Research Center (NAISR) 2.0 and a National Roadmap to foster an ethical AI ecosystem, advance AI research and development, and drive innovation across sectors using AI.
💰Deals of the Week
💬 Sdui group, a German communication provider between teacher and parents, acquired FoxEducation, an Austrian EdTech that provides communication channels between educators and parents, for $22.8M.
💰 Uplimit, a San Francisco-based company that provides AI-powered enterprise learning solutions, has raised $11M in Series A funding.
🤝 TeachMe.To, a US-based firm that sustains a mentoring community, raised $5M in a seed funding round led by Bling Capital to update and refine existing tools on its platform.
👶🏻 EarlyBird, a US-based financing solution for children's financial wellbeing, raised ~$800K in a pre-seed funding round led by Google of Startups, Impact Shakers, Resolution Ventures, and Ada Ventures.
📚Teaching Strategies, an early learning provider, has acquired Cognitive ToyBox™, a developer of game-based assessment tools for young children, to enhance its ability to assess children's learning and development holistically.
💰GEMS Education, a large private school operator, has secured $3.25 billion in debt financing for a facility underwritten by several major UAE banks, including Dubai Islamic Bank, Mashreq Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
🏆 2023 Latin America EdTech 100
The annual list of the most promising EdTech startups from Latin America. Almost half of the cohort is dedicated to providing workforce-related education solutions, with an emphasis on upskilling and bootcamp solutions. Roughly 30% of the cohort consists of EdTech startups that cater to the K12 landscape, with management systems, support solutions, and content and curriculum accounting for the services.
Matilda, a Mexican EdTech specializing in education financing, stood out among other cohort members in the past few months. The company recently expanded operations in Columbia, intending to extend its reach to 100,000 by the end of 2024. One of HolonIQ’s trends for education is D2C financing, and the efforts by Matilda provide evidence that there is a growing appetite for more D2C financing options for education.
Thank you for reading. Have a great week ahead!
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