Ed tech is on pace for a new funding record in 2014. Driving this trend have been multiple nine-figure deals to startups focusing on a multitude of spaces within the ed tech realm, ranging from online learning platforms to classroom community tools.
Below we’ve highlighted the largest rounds thus far this year in ed tech, which feature some of the companies tackling the issues mentioned above and much more. Pluralsight, an online marketing platform for software developers and those in IT, tops the list after raising a $135M Series B in August from Insight Venture Partners, Sorenson Capital, and Iconiq Capital. TutorGroup and the awesomely named, Dude Solutions, the parent company of SchoolDude and FacilityDude, rounded out the top 3, each raising $100M rounds in February. Dude Solutions is a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of facility management solutions to education And TutorGroup is a provider of live synchronous e-Learning services which specializes in English training in Asia and Mandarin Chinese training for global business professionals.
Remind, who we previously highlighted as a top performing mobile ed tech company and a potential Kleiner Perkins breakout, also made the list with their September $40M Series C.
| Name | Amount ($M) | Round | Select Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pluralsight | 135 | Series B | Insight Venture Partners, Sorenson Capital, Iconiq Capital |
| TutorGroup | 100 | Growth Equity | QiMing Venture Partners, Temasek Holdings, Alibaba Group |
| Dude Solutions | 100 | Private Equity | Warburg Pincus |
| Desire2Learn | 85 | Series B | New Enterprise Associates, Silicon Valley Bank, Four Rivers Group, OMERS Ventures, |
| Teacher Synergy | 64.12 | Venture Capital | True Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Spectrum Equity Investors |
| Dasheng | 55 | Series C | Doll Capital Management, Sequoia Capital China, Shunwei Fund |
| Craftsy | 50 | Series D | Foundry Group, Silicon Valley Bank, Adams Street Partners, Tiger Global Management, Stripes Group |
| Kaltura | 47 | Series E | Gera Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, .406 Ventures, |
| Minerva Project | 45 | Series B | Benchmark Capital, ZhenFund, TAL Education, Yongjin Group |
| Remind | 40 | Series C | Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, First Round Capital, The Social+Capital Partnership |
| Renaissance Learning | 40 | Private Equity | Google Capital |
| Udacity | 35 | Series C | Valor Capital Group, Drive Capital, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, CRV, Andreessen Horowitz, |
| AltSchool | 33 | Series A | Founders Fund, John Doerr, Omidyar Network, First Round Capital, Harrison Metal, Andreessen Horowitz, |
| Udemy | 32 | Series C | Norwest Venture Partners, Insight Venture Partners, MHS Capital |
| Edmodo | 30 | Series D | Index Ventures, KDDI Open Innovation Fund |
Accompanying the record funding pace has been a set of venture capital investors who’ve been very active investing in Ed Tech. None moreso than 500 Startups and the non-profit venture philanthropy ed tech fund NewSchools Venture Fund (we included all of their funds under one entity).
500 Startups’ deals included multiple seed round financings, as well as participation in the $5M Series B financing for Brazil-based online tutoring platform Descomplica. NewSchools Venture Fund also participated in a variety of seed-stage deals, as well as a $6M Series A financing for EdCast, a developer of “personal learning networks”. The top 5 most active VCs below.
| Rank | Investor |
|---|---|
| 1 | 500 Startups |
| 1 | NewSchools Venture Fund |
| 2 | Kapor Capital |
| 2 | GSV Capital |
| 2 | Learn Capital |
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