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B2B edtech (2024)

Who’s got the killer grades?

Last updated: 14 Nov 2024

Market 101

Edtech is no longer the big VC bet it was during the pandemic tech boom. Overall venture funding for the sector reached just $2.97bn in 2023, down 86% from 2021’s all-time high, according to figures from market research provider HolonIQ.

By now, most founders have discovered that the main value of edtech resides in selling courses to businesses, not everyday consumers. With their workplace training packages, startups are going after a slice of companies’ L&D (learning and development) budgets.

And the world of corporate “microlearning” has proved a profitable foothold for many. Companies are hiring the likes of London’s Skiller Whale, for example, to upskill their developer teams. Startups are also selling short burst content — small and frequent training snippets. More than a few founders are trying to recreate tricks learned from TikTok, while another subset of companies is trying out virtual reality (VR) content (their progress is admittedly limited — at least until VR headsets become more widely adopted).

Rapidly advancing AI is forcing companies to bone up on new tech training — that’s a tailwind for the edtech world. AI will help personalise training to companies’ needs, and it can be more engaging and dynamic for some learners than more traditional forms of education.

But AI could also, of course, threaten the B2B edtech model by making it easier for companies to knock up their own training resources. Consider the tools provided by London-based Colossyan, which empower companies to make their own educational resources. Using Colossyan’s toolbox, companies can turn text, PDFs and powerpoints into training videos. The company raised one of Europe’s biggest B2B edtech rounds of 2024 — a $22m Series A round in February — and has a roster of clients that include Hewlett Packard, Novartis and Porsche.

This was one standout in a quiet year so far for edtech, where the deals are noticeably smaller than in 2023.

Early stage market map

Deals

Key facts

0

is how much the one-time multi-billion-dollar (and since fallen) edtech Byju’s is worth these days, its founder admitted recently1

$37m

is the highest B2B edtech raise of the year — for Zen Educate — a fraction of the figures we saw in pandemic boom years2

$404bn

is the predicted size of global edtech market by 2025, up from $270bn today3

Trends to watch

  1. B2C edtech falls to earth

    The past decade has seen $80bn in VC capital flow into edtech, with the global market rising to a whopping $16bn in 2020 and $20.8bn in 2021 during the height of the pandemic, according to analysis from HolonIQ. Edtech slumped to just $2.97bn in 2023.

    The B2C market has come back down to earth. A telling example of how the hype has died came in March, when edtech pioneer Udacity — which made MOOCs, these accessible online courses that were for a time this huge thing — was acquired by consulting firm Accenture for an undisclosed amount. Udacity was valued at $1bn in 2015; last year, India’s Economic Times reported it was valued closer to a much more modest $100m.

  2. PE for edtech rises

    Private equity investment in European edtechs in 2024 has surpassed 2023’s total, PitchBook reports.

    Firms like BD-Capital are targeting B2B edtech, buying into Netex Learning, a cloud-based learning management system catering to large and medium-sized corporates, for €72.5m in May, according to PitchBook.

    Earlier in the year, Verdane bought into Pflegecampus21, an Berlin-based online learning platform specifically for the nursing industry, for €90m in January.

  3. Eat or get eaten

    In the right hands, generative AI will turbocharge work. Companies know they need to get their heads around the tech, so if you’re selling AI courses, great!

    But the AI scramble could also wipe a few companies out.

Startups tracked by Sifted

Sifted take

With the 2020/2021 tech boom a distant memory, edtech’s experiencing a much quieter reality. The industry has evolved into something else — specifically, founders are adding value to existing training systems, a supplement that both employees and employers need. The rapid rise of AI technologies will force edtech companies to innovate further — and quickly — with clients expecting to see clever deployments of the technology to build better training services.

Rising stars

Junto

Corporate & workforce development

Total funding

€6.2m

Berlin, Germany
2022

Berlin-based startup offers employees leadership training led by business leaders from top tech companies. It counts Earlybird, Emerge and Picus Capital in its cap table.

Round

Seed

Valuation

Undisclosed

Date

2022

Size

€5m

LabLabee

Niche & emerging learning tech

Total funding

€4.4m

Lyon, France
2021

Backed by notable investors including Accel Capital, Kima Ventures and e& Capital, Lyon-based edtech startup provides a hands-on labs platform for Telco Cloud.

Round

Seed

Valuation

Undisclosed

Date

2024

Size

€3.9m

Pixaera

VR/AR & immersive learning

Total funding

€5.7m

London, United Kingdom
2020

An immersive learning platform that combines gaming and AI to elevate training techniques. It has Shell, GE and BP in its client table.

Round

Seed

Valuation

Undisclosed

Date

2022

Size

€5.7m

Academy

VR/AR & immersive learning

Total funding

€3.5m

Manchester, United Kingdom
2020

Develops tech and leadership talent across the UK by using specialised screening to identify tech stars. Founder Ashley Ramrachia was ex-CPO at THG.

Round

Seed

Valuation

Undisclosed

Date

2021

Size

€3.5m

Early stage startups to watch

3spin Learning

Darmstadt, Germany
2020
 Early VC

€2m

€2m

-

abodoo

Dublin, Ireland
2018
 Support Program

€1.2m

-

-

Academii

Caerphilly, United Kingdom
2019
 Seed

€440k

€440k

-

Academy

Manchester, United Kingdom
2020
 Seed

€3.5m

€3.5m

-

AimHi Earth

London, United Kingdom
2020
 Angel

€1.2m

€1.2m

-

Beyond The Box

Milan, Italy
2019
 Seed

€840k

€650k

-

Bilişim School

Yenimahalle, Türkiye
2022
 Seed

€70k

€70k

-

Bodyswaps

London, United Kingdom
2020
 Seed

€2m

€1.5m

-

CampusAI

Warsaw, Poland
2023
 Pre-seed

€9.2m

€9.2m

-

Carna

London, United Kingdom
2020
 Seed

€1.4m

€1.4m

-

CodeOp

Barcelona, Spain
2018
 Seed

€3.8m

€2.5m

-

Colossyan

London, United Kingdom
2020
 Series A

€28.3m

€22m

-

Data Booster

Amsterdam, Netherlands
2021
 Seed

-

-

-

Data Masters

Cassano delle Murge, Italy
2021
 Seed

€2m

€1.1m

-

Deep Skill

Cologne, Germany
2020
 Seed

€2.6m

€1.5m

-

Doinstruct

Osnabrück, Germany
2021
 Early VC

€8.5m

€7.6m

-

edtake

Paris, France
2021
 Seed

€1.2m

€680k

-

eduBITES GmbH

Berlin, Germany
2021
 Seed

€2.1m

€2.1m

-

Edusign

Paris, Feance
2019
 Seed

€1m

€1m

-

Edyoucated

Münster, Germany
2019
 Seed

€2.3m

€2.1m

-

Enatom

Groningen, Netherlands
2022
 Seed

€900k

€900k

-

Examfly

Dublin, Ireland
2019
 Seed

€1.9m

€1.5m

-

Founderz

Barcelona, Spain
2021
 Seed

€1.4m

€1m

-

FourPlus

United Kingdom
2020
 Grant

€1.4m

€1.2m

-

Futurely

Milan, Italy
2019
 Seed

€1.4m

€1.4m

-

Fuxam

Berlin, Germany
2021
 Seed

€830k

€500k

-

Gility

Milan, Italy
2022
 Seed

€12.4m

€12.4m

-

GoodCourse

London, United Kingdom
2021
 Seed

€1.1m

€450k

€3.5m

Growappy

Lisbon, Portugal
2020
 Seed

€600k

€600k

-

Hundo Ltd

London, United Kingdom
2020
 Seed

€1.8m

€1.8m

-

ImagiLabs

Stockholms kommun, Sweden
2018
 Seed

€390k

€250k

-

Junto

Berlin, Germany
2022
 Seed

€6.2m

€5m

-

LabLabee

Lyon, France
2021
 Seed

€4.5m

€3.1m

-

Langoo

Madrid, Spain
2022
 Seed

€100k

€100k

-

Ludenso

Oslo, Norway
2018
 Grant

€1.1m

€220k

-

Manageable

London, United Kingdom
2020
 Support Program

-

-

-

Mendo

Paris, France
2021
 Seed

€700k

€700k

-

Metaverse Learning

London, United Kingdom
2019
 Seed

€1.8m

€1.8m

-

Mindstone

London, United Kingdom
2020
 Seed

€4.8m

€1.7m

-

mytalents

Vienna, Austria
2023
 Angel

€600k

€100k

-

nu.Education

Zurich, Switzerland
2021
 Seed

€2.6m

€1.1m

-

Olus Education

Dublin, Ireland
2021
 Angel

€300k

€300k

-

On train

Saint-Mandé, France
2018
 Seed

€1.1m

€1.1m

-

Pixaera

London, United Kingdom
2020
 Seed

€5.7m

€5.7m

-

Quench.AI

London, UK
2021
 Pre-seed

€6.2m

€6.2m

-

QuickSpeech

Riederberg, Austria
2018
 Seed

€500k

€500k

-

Reatcode Group

London, United Kingdom
2019
 Seed

€1.1m

€1.1m

-

Redmenta

Budapest, Hungary
2020
 Angel

€470k

€330k

-

Reelyze

Birmingham, United Kingdom
2020
 Seed

€1.2m

-

-

Reteach

Berlin, Germany
2020
 Seed

€1.5m

€1.5m

-

Scobees

Cologne, Germany
2020
 Grant

€710k

€710k

-

Sharpist

Berlin, Germany
2018
 Series A

€26.4m

€20.9m

-

Simbel

Paris, France
2020
 Seed

€4m

€4m

-

SimpleStudy

Cork, Ireland
2021
 Seed

€790k

€750k

-

SimSkills

Madrid, Spain
2022
 Grant

€180k

€80k

-

Skiller Whale

London, UK
2018
 Seed

€3.4m

€2.6m

-

Solidroad

Dublin, Ireland
2023
 Angel

€1.1m

€1.1m

-

StellarUp

Amsterdam, Netherlands
2020
 Seed

€500k

€500k

-

stylus

London, United Kingdom
2023
 Pre-seed

€750k

€600k

-

TalentYou

Barcelona, Spain
2023
 Pre-seed

€850k

€740k

-

TheStarter

Lisbon, Portugal
2021
 Early VC

€100k

€100k

-

Turing College

Vilnius, Lithuania
2020
 Seed

€2.6m

€360k

-

Twenix

Madrid, Spain
2018
 Series A

€7m

€3.5m

-

UBIQ

London, United Kingdom
2022
 Early VC

€4.8m

€4.8m

-

Uni-Life

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2018
 Debt

€750k

€135k

-

Vedliai

Vilnius, Lithuania
2019
 Seed

€150k

€150k

-

VRLab Academy

London, United Kingdom
2018
 Early VC

€10.3m

€10m

-

We Are Learning

Oslo, Norway
2022
 Seed

€5.5m

€3.7m

-

Europe’s success stories

Who early stage startups are up against

Multiverse

(Pre-)Seed

SeriesA

SeriesB

SeriesC

SeriesD+

IPO/Exit

London based, Multiverse identifies, closes and prevents skills gaps, through personalised, on-the-job learning. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Salesforce Ventures among others is in its cap table.

Kahoot!

(Pre-)Seed

SeriesA

SeriesB

SeriesC

SeriesD+

IPO/Exit

Norwegian startup that creates inspiring educational games for skills training and professional development. With the support of investors such as Creandum, Northzone and M12, the startup went public in 2019.

Sources

Data sources

Sifted | Proprietary data

Dealroom.co | Data

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