“Private investments made to learning technology companies spiked to $18.8 billion in the first half of 2021,” comments Sam S. Adkins, Chief Researcher at Metaari. “Investment is far outpacing the historic levels in 2020. Just over $11.6 billion was invested in 516 companies in the first half of 2020. One consistent pattern in both 2020 and 2021 is that very large amounts are being invested in fewer companies. Funding in the first half of 2021 increased by 62% compared to the year before but the number of companies funded dropped by 22%.”
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To put this in perspective, investments in 2019 and 2020 combined far outstripped the total investments made to all edtech companies combined for the entire twenty-one year period between 1997 and 2018.”
“The largest investment made in the first half of 2021 was the breathtaking $1.5 billion that went to Articulate Global in June 2021,” adds Adkins. “This is the highest investment ever made to a US-based edtech company. The billion dollar threshold was breached for the first time in 2020 with China’s Zuoybang raising $1.6 billion in December 2020 and Yuanfudao garnering $2.2 billion in October 2020. ”
The $1.6 billion investment made to Articulate is even more significant considering that “only” $1.65 billion was invested in just twenty China companies combined in the first half of 2021.
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There was a very sharp uptick in investments going to learning game developers. In the first half of 2021, $2.53 billion was invested in 69 learning games companies. This is amazing considering that $2.62 billion was invested in serious game developers for the entire year of 2020. H1 funding for learning game developers is essentially on par with the entire year of 2020.
Over $1.99 billion was invested in 35 companies developing educational games for young kids in the first half of 2021. This is 79% of all funding that went to learning game developers in the first half. China’s Huohua Siwei obtained the highest amount at $400.0 million in early 2021, followed by US-based Age of Learning at $300.0 in June 2021.
“Investment patterns are inherently unpredictable,” says Adkins. “The patterns produce a quantitative ‘rear-view mirror’ perspective, but they are not reliable leading indicators. Global investments have spiked every year since 2015 reaching an unprecedented $16.3 billion in 2018, $18.6 billion in 2019, and an astonishing $36.38 billion in 2020. To put this in perspective, investments in 2019 and 2020 combined far outstripped the total investments made to all edtech companies combined for the entire twenty-one year period between 1997 and 2018.”
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