Ed Tech Startup Dashboard 2015-2016

Ed Tech Startup Dashboard 2015-2016

Simba Information’s Ed Tech Startup Dashboard 2015-2016 examines the education technology startup market—the highlights of investment and business activity among incubators and accelerators, the startups themselves and the drivers behind all the activity.

The report focuses on the activity in the fourth quarter of 2015, reviews overall activity in 2015—including the startup IPO of the year—and takes an initial look at 2016 activity through the end of May 2016.

Online course provider Udacity was by far the highest investment generator in 2015. The investments in Udacity and Coursera, another online course provider that also attracted strong investment, signal a decided interest in looking for new ways to deliver learning in the higher education segment. In addition in higher education, the appeal was for data analytics and helping students succeed to finish coursework and degrees.

In the K-12 education market segment, the money trail led to technology, tools and platforms, as well as curriculum resources that enabled adaptive learning. Knewton, the adaptive technology firm that works with content providers to create adaptive programs and also serves the higher education market, attracted the greatest investment.

The long tail of adaptive also spurred investments in Newsela, the adaptive platform for non-fiction reading comprehension; DreamBox Learning, which offers adaptive math curriculum programs; Socratic, a game-based learning solution; and Lightsail, which provides adaptive literacy solutions.

The Dashboard, produced on a periodic basis since the beginning of 2015, provides a timely spot-check of new companies and new product launches, capital funding milestones and the hottest sectors for new products, as well as changes in the education-market landscape that enhance the opportunities or present new challenges to emerging companies.