🚀 This Week in EdTech 🚀 (Issue #23)
6 Jun - 12 Jun 2022
🦄 It’s been a big week for EdTech which saw not one - but two - new unicorns. Multiverse, after raising a $220m Series D, and PW (PhysicsWallah), after raising a $100m Series A, both joined the list. There are now 35 EdTech unicorns around the world 🌏. See the most up to date list here
⚡️Inspired by the new unicorn additions and want to know what skills are crucial for success? Supercharger Ventures took a look at the background of unicorn founders to see how many of them started their careers in education. The results show that just over half had prior experience in the education space (see below)
⚡️ Business Insider released their “13 top venture capitalists to know who specialize in EdTech investing” list which includes Mercedes Bent (Lightspeed Venture Partners), Ian Chiu (Owl Ventures), Jenny Lee (GGV Capital) and more. Check the full list out here
Notable raises
Workforce:
💰 Multiverse nabbed $220m at a $1.7bn valuation, this is double the valuation at its Series C round which closed just eight months ago. Multiverse’s basic approach is to pair coaches with apprentices and then embed them together with organizations that are taking on the apprentices. Multiverse now has 500+ customers including Cisco, Verizon and Box
💰 Australia-based Go1 secured $100m at a $2bn valuation. When Go1 last announced funding less than a year ago, it was valued at half that amount. Go1 positions itself as a Netflix or Spotify for learning, aggregating and curating content for its customers. Over the last year, Go1’s revenues, customers, and learners all doubled
💰 RippleMatch, the recruitment automation platform changing how Gen Z finds work, raised $45m. Over the past year, RippleMatch grew its user base 3x and drove hundreds of thousands of interviews for customers including SAP, General Mills, and Amazon
💰 The US’ Ethena, a modern compliance training platform, raised $30m. More than 50,000 active users from companies including Netflix, Zendesk, Carta, and Figma complete training activities on the platform each month
💰 CareAcademy, a care enablement platform for home care and home health organizations, raised $20m. The new funding will be used to accelerate product development and data measurement capabilities
💰 Tunisia-based coding bootcamp, GOMYCODE, closed an $8m Series A round. It’s the largest round at this stage on the continent (barring Andela if it’s not counted as an EdTech). The company’s overall revenues have grown 3 times each year since its inception
💰 Teal raised a $6.3m seed round to champion career growth and optimize the job search. In just over a year, Teal’s free platform became the tool of choice for over 65,000 users and helped people land their dream jobs at companies like Google, Apple, TikTok, Spotify, and Bumble
💰 Reflex, an Austin, Texas-based online marketplace that helps brands find and connect with retail workers on-demand, raised $4.5m. Many national brands, including Faherty, currently work with Reflex to leverage a more flexible operational model
💰 Lithuania-based blockchain-powered online education platform BitDegree raised $1m. The platform aims to offer a creative and user-engaging way to learn about blockchain, crypto, and web3-related technologies, within a web3 technology
Higher Ed:
💰 British startup Bibliu secured $15m. Bibliu works with universities to provide digital access to textbooks and research materials and has more than trebled its recognised revenue during the last financial year
💰 Realworld, a NYC-based provider of a platform to navigate adulthood, closed a $3.2m funding round. Realworld creates task lists with step-by-step lessons explaining all things “adult” in simple terms, while also providing timely reminders to keep its members on track of their finances, health, and other “real world” decisions
K-12:
💰 India’s PhysicsWallah (PW) became a unicorn after raising $100m. PW, which runs both online and offline classes, gained wide popularity on YouTube, amassing nearly 7m subscribers. Revenue grew ninefold in the year 2021-2022 vis-a-vis 2020-2021. The current run rate for FY 2023 is at $65m
💰 Kira Learning raised $6m from a range of investors including Andrew Ng. Kira is building a solution for K-12 schools and districts seeking state-of-the-art, standards-aligned computer science courses for all learners
Events & Opportunities
💥 Opportunity: European Female EdTech Fellowship - Cohort 2 now open. Apply by 1st July 2022
💥 Event: The Workforce Development Edtech Top 50 - the emerging companies you really should know about. This is an online open meeting for L&D, HR and Workforce Development senior professionals. It will take place on 21st June 2022 4pm–5pm
💥 Event: The HE Edtech top 50 - the emerging companies you really should know about. This is an online open meeting for Higher Education senior professionals. It will take place on 20th June 2022 4pm–5pm
💥 Event: Next week (20 - 26 June 2022) is London EdTech Week, a week-long celebration hosting 5,000+ attendees and featuring 30+ event hosts showcasing the Now & Next of the future of learning and work. See below for some key events taking place during London EdTech Week:
➡️ 20 June 2022: AWS, Brighteye Ventures and MindCET’s London Edtech Week Official Opening Reception