EdTech: A Promising Industry In Europe

Over the last few years, edtech scenario has changed rapidly and the advancements are being made at a fast pace.

The acceptance of this profound change has been welcoming from the market’s perspective and that is visible in the global worth of the edtech market. Global Report Predicts EdTech Spend to Reach $252 Billion by 2020. Educational technology is booming. The technology is helping to redefine how we learn, obtain skills, and get the best of education. That value proposition has captured public attention and attracted record amounts of venture capital funding. However, the vision for edtech must be much broader as the education market serves not only to instruct but also to invent.

The market research analysts predict that the education technology market in Europe is to grow at a CAGR of over 10% from 2015 to 2019. E-learning, education gamification, digital content in rich media, and use of the internet for education collaboration are encouraging learners and educators to use new learning models. These new models can be a combination of products and services within and across digital hardware, digital content, and digital software segments. The growing prevalence of devices such as interactive displays, tablets, adaptive devices, and education software used for imparting interactive digital content fosters the growth of this market.

UK and London are the major hubs for the emerging edtech companies and that is visible in the number of venture capitalists that are seeking edtech companies from the region. IBIS Capital, a London-based hedge fund that caters to media, technology, and education sectors with early stage venture investments found that 184 institutional investors (funds, family offices) and 1,800 ultra-high net worth individuals with more than GBP20 million to invest, based in the UK, were  actively seeking investment opportunities in the edtech sector.

A post on PrivateEquity Wire states that The UK ranks No1 in edtech venture capital funding in Europe.

According to Benjamin Vedrenne-Cloquet, co-founder of London EdTech Week and EdtechXGlobal, and partner in IBIS Capital, a leading edtech investment firm, “The UK ranks No1 in educational technology venture capital and angel funding in Europe, contributing 34 per cent (GBP178 million) of the total”.

The educational technology sector is one of the fastest growing in the UK and has now reached the same number of digital companies as financial technology, or fintech. The UK has more than more than 1200 edtech companies, approximately a quarter of the total number in Europe. The GBP178 million comprises investments from UK based venture capital and seed angel investors in early stage (less than GBP10M in revenues) edtech companies.

 The post states that the UK edtech market is expected to reach GBP3.4 billion by 2021 (out of a total of GBP100 billion UK education market) and is growing at 22 per cent year on year. The total average expected growth over the next 2 years of UK edtech companies is predicted to be 29 percent per year. 

EDUKWEST EU reports that in the first quarter of 2016, investments in European education technology surpassed €24 million coming from over 8 investors across 10 deals.The average investment size in Q1 in Europe was between €300k to €800k with the exceptions of Digischool (€14m), Claned (€4m) and Twig World (£3.5m) securing the highest investments this quarter. And coming to 2017 the market started with yet another strong first quarter, nearly doubling the number of investments and total raised compared to Q1 2016.

Some prominent companies from Europe that highlight the edtech success from the region are Bussu, Decebo, Eliademy.com, FutureLearn, Kahoot, Memrise and more!

The coming wave of innovation in edtech from Europe is attracting a lot of investors and the next league would fuel the education scenarios towards a better future of enhanced education system.

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Also Read: Why it’s time to champion the European EdTech market