European and SWANA startups thrive despite the decline in funding for ed-tech

The ed-tech sector slows down after record expansion, but not globally

After the Ed-tech business saw a boom due to the pandemic, interest in educational technology has decreased. Global Ed-tech funding fell to a little under $3 billion in 2023, according to HolonIQ, after $20.8 billion was raised in 2021 and $10.6 billion in 2022. The trend of reduction seems to be continuing this year; according to data from Crunchbase, which is very consistent with HolonIQ, ed-tech businesses worldwide have raised slightly over $1 billion at the halfway point.

Even so, some progress is being made as creative thinkers use AI in the educational system in novel ways, such as data analysis, gamification, simulation training, and personalization. Despite the general downturn, which emerging Ed-tech businesses and major investors are exhibiting interest?

A large portion of the excitement has moved abroad. Let's examine a handful of these rapidly expanding new ed-techs and identify any patterns.

With origins in both Finland and Iraq, Corrsy aims to raise educational standards for young learners in the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) area by developing a gamified mobile application. It now has $500,000 in pre-seed funding that it raised from angel investors, the UK-based accelerator SuperChargers Ventures Ed-tech, the Finnish ed-tech angel investor Risto Vahanen, the Iraqi venture capital firm EQIQ, and Durubi Management Holding Company.

Founded under the educational conglomerate Nahdet Misr Group, EdVentures, the backer of Sprints, is a Giza, Egypt-based corporate venture capital firm committed to edtech. The Netherlands-based Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) provides employment support to initiatives in the MENA area.

Going on, Egypt Ventures and the HBAN in Ireland participated in a round that was led by TLcom Capital and Plus VC and saw Educatly secure $2.5 million. Educatly is a higher education network based in Egypt that assists students in gaining admission to prestigious colleges and studying overseas.