Ed tech & services

Venture capitalists rained $4.5bn onto ed techs during ‘unprecedented’ first half

Some $4.5 billion of venture funding was poured into ed techs during the first half of this year, according to HolonIQ, an “unprecedented” period in which investors sought to capitalise on a boom in online learning.

The first six months of 2020 were “momentous”, the data provider’s chief executive Patrick Brothers said, noting that there are now 19 ed tech ‘unicorns’ – whose valuations exceed $1 billion – which have collectively raised Investment firm DST Global, headed by billionaire Yuri Milner, is expected to give Indian online education firm Byju’s a $400 million injection.

Byju’s, which earlier this year became the world’s first ‘decacorn’ as its valuation reached $10.5 billion, simplifies math and science concepts for K12 students through games and videos on an app. It has more than 57 million registered users and over 3.5 million paid subscribers.

The start-up doubled revenues in the financial year that ended Ed tech unicorn Canva for Education has raised US$60 million of new funding as its valuation reached $6 billion.

Since March, Canva said it has seen its number of active users increase tenfold, with users across 90,000 schools and universities worldwide using its platform.

Since launching in 2013, Canva, which enables users to design “anything more than $9 billion over the past decade.

“Keep an eye out over the next six months as new investors, large and small, around the world seek to deploy capital to fuel education innovation at scale,” said Brothers, whose organisation forecasts that the next 10 years will see more than $87 billion injected into ed tech.

Over the past six months, during which schools, universities and other educational centres have been forced to close to curb the in March 2020 to 28 billion rupees ($373 million) from the previous year.

Billionaire Milner has previously backed large internet businesses including Alibaba, Facebook and and publish anywhere” using dragand-drop tools, has amassed more than 30 million users across 190 countries.

Canva’s platform facilitates the design of education-specific content, such as worksheets, lesson plans, how-to videos, infographics and presentations.

It describes itself as a “one-stop shop for creating and collaborating in the classroom”. spread of Covid-19, investors have sought to supply fledgling companies with cash to scale to meet rising demand for online education.

The $4.5 billion invested in ed tech over the past six months exceeds the $4.4 billion rained on education start-ups throughout the whole of 2017.

It represents more than half of the $7 billion of investment recorded last year.

The past six months have Twitter as well as a string of Indian start-ups across various sectors.

Since inception in 2011, Byju’s has raised about $995 million from investors including Naspers, Tencent, Verlinvest, the Chanspawned numerous new ed tech unicorns, including Quizlet, which in May was valued at around $1 billion when it raised $30 million in a Series C.

More recently, in July, Indian online tutoring platform Byju’s became ed tech’s first ‘decacorn’, a term given to companies whose value exceeds $10 billion, when it reached a $10.5 billion valuation in securing investment from Bond, the first female-founded venture

India: World’s first ed tech ‘decacorn’ Byju’s to receive $400m injection from billionaire

capital fund. Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Aarin Capital.

In January this year, Tiger Global Management, a US-based hedge fund, invested $200 million in Think and Learn, the technology company that owns the Indian learning app.

Last year, Byju’s received $150 million from Owl Ventures and the Qatar Investment Authority, which recently participated in a $750 million funding round for Chinese online tutoring provider

Australia: Canva for Education raises $60m as valuation balloons to $6bn

Zuoyebang.

Ed tech & services

Chinese online tutoring provider raises $750m as its valuation reportedly hits $6.5bn

Beijing-headquartered online tutoring firm Zuoyebang has raised $750 million in fresh financing as investors continue to rain money onto Asia’s booming ed tech sector.

Tiger Global, a US-based investment house, and Hong Kong buyout group FountainVest Partners led the six-year-old firm’s Series E funding round, which also saw participation from SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital China, Xiang He Capital and the Qatar Investment Authority.

Zuoyebang is best known for its problem-solving app, by which students can upload pictures of problems, such as equations, and have them solved through artificial intelligence.

The company, which reportedly targets K12 students enrolled in China’s compulsory education Discovery Education, a provider of digital curriculum content and professional learning for primary and secondary schools, announced the acquisition of Spiral, a platform which supports collaborative learning and formative assessment in the classroom and at home. Terms were not disclosed.

Discovery Education vicepresident of corporate development Brazil-based distance education provider Uniasselvi has confidentially filed with Wall Street’s watchdog to list in the US, according to Reuters.

The publication said that in February Uniasselvi instructed bankers from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of system, has 170 million active monthly users, some 50 million of whom use the app every day. More than 12 million of these users are paid subscribers.

For context, around 200 million K12 students were enrolled in Chinese schools last year.

The capital injection into Zuoyebang, which has reportedly been valued at $6.5 billion, crystallises a report earlier that the company had been seeking to raise between $600 million and $800 million in new funding.

Zuoyebang is one of a number of Chinese online tutoring providers to reach unicorn status in recent years.

Others include VIPKid and Yuanfudao, which in March secured $1 billion in a financing round led by Tencent and Hillhouse Capital

Beijing, China

UK: Discovery Education acquires Spiral

that valued the firm at $7.8 billion. and strategy Philip Nanney said: “Discovery Education is focused on providing schools with outstanding digital services that connect pupils to learning in and out of the classroom. The acquisition of Spiral aligns with our strategy of adding features to our digital services that save educators time and increase pupil engagement. We look forward to welcoming Spiral America to manage an initial public offering on the Nasdaq exchange, but suspended those plans amid market turmoil stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, given forecasts of heightened demand for online education, the firm decided to revive its IPO plans and aims to list to the Discovery Education team.”

Hamish Kennedy, Spiral’s founder and chief executive, said: “Spiral’s team is incredibly excited to join Discovery Education. Discovery Education shares our commitment to connecting students to learning no matter where they are, and we look forward to working closely on that mission with our new colleagues.” shares by the third quarter, Reuters reported.

Both Uniasselvi and its shareholders – private equity houses Carlyle Group, Neuberger Berman and Vinci Partners – will sell shares in a floatation that is expected to generate $250 million, according to the report.

In August last year, Discovery Education announced the purchase of Inspyro, a provider of virtual reality and augmented reality content, also based in the UK.

In the UK Discovery Education is based in Hammersmith, London. Its parent company is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Spiral

Private equity-owned Brazilian distance education provider eyes US listing

is headquartered in east London.

If the initial public offering comes to fruition, the firm, which has around 200,000 students, would join two other Brazilian education groups whose shares are listed in the US – Arco Platform and Afya.

Uniasselvi had “no immediate comment”, according to Reuters.