The educational technology sector, known as 'edtech', is experiencing a moment of effervescence. The arrival of Covid caused a change in mentality and uncovered the full potential of a hitherto incipient industry. In 2020 the sector hatched, with a global investment that disappeared by 16.000 million dollars, more than double that of the previous year (7.000 million), according to data received by the educational intelligence company Holon IQ. The upward trend is consolidated with a year ago, reaching 20.000 million and with financing rounds and rising valuations in all segments: preschool, compulsory education, higher education, lifelong learning, and business training.
Spain is not an exception in this fever.
In recent years, numerous startups in the 'edtech' field have emerged and flourished. Some such as Lingokids, Odilo and Innovamat have established themselves as world leaders. Our country has a very attractive competitive factor: the Spanish language, a gateway to the gigantic Latin American market. This has made Spain the focus of European startups to cement their international expansion processes. “Spanish is a great asset, everyone knows it. There are more native speakers of Spanish than of English and because we are realizing that this has an impact on the economy,” said José Miguel Herrero, founder of Big Sur Ventures, founder of venture capital.
Unicorns in Spain
The Austrian startup GoStudent is the first and for now European unicorn in the 'edtech' sector. Founded in 2016, it has just celebrated its first anniversary in Spain where it teaches 200.000 sessions per month. “After the beginnings in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, we bet on France and Spain. At a strategic level, the Spanish market is fundamental. We cross the Atlantic and host the main Latin American markets such as Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. We are also in the US and Canada”, explained Juan Manuel Rodríguez Jurado, country manager of GoStudent in Spain.
It is a platform for private classes and “Spain is the country with the highest demand. 48% of families acknowledge having used this type of class and in 70% of cases, several times a week”. Rodríguez recalls that the education of our children is a priority and “it is where parents ultimately save the least, even in times of crisis. We have a vision of the future of education,” she points out. The objective is now to strengthen the business in Spain and continue building the largest network of tutors and students in the country. But they also want to establish themselves in other European and Latin American markets and even enter regions such as the Middle East or Asia-Pacific.
The startup has reached a valuation of 3.000 million euros after raising 300 million in a financing round last January. In addition to its organic growth, it also has an M&A strategy. Among its latest acquisitions is that of the Spanish group Tus Media. “We have other planned acquisitions that help us expand the range of services. It is an exciting sector that will continue to grow in full swing”, admits Rodríguez.
The horrible of GoStudent alumni will meet between the ages of 13 and 17. Private math classes are the most requested in Spain, as in the rest of the world.
Another example of the European 'edtech' landing in Spain is the Videocation platform. He was born in Norway at the end of 2019 and in less than two years he had already landed in Spain. In fact, New Country is the first stop in its internationalization plan. Why this strategy? On the one hand, "it allows you to cover, in addition to the Spanish market, Latin America", and on the other, "the founders and some workers already knew the market because they came from Schibsted, a Norwegian company that bought Infojobs", says Jaume Gurt, country manager of Videocation. In other words, the fact of being an important market in the strategy, large and with a lot of potential, was joined by the links and contacts previously established in Spain that facilitated the start-up.
The project arose from a conversation between several people: an expert in learning, another in the internet and a third in audiovisual production. In order to analyze the needs of the world, the idea arose of building a platform that would offer the company the possibility of implementing a high-quality continuous training plan through national experts and prestigious recognition in different areas of knowledge. . It works with a subscription model.
growing
In Norway they have already validated their business model, where they grow between 15 and 20% per month. In Spain, less than a month ago they announced the closing of a financing round of two million euros aimed at accelerating their growth in the country and taking advantage of the power of the Spanish language. “The content that we develop for Spain is useful for Latin America, where we have already launched two important proposals. From there we want to make the leap to the Spanish-speaking American market”, advances Gurt.
Last year they began to prepare the capture studies and the first courses were developed to produce in October. “We have brought the learning from Norway and we are improving it. The courses themselves are the same, but we improve the processes, we make them more efficient”, clarifies the country manager.
just the prologue
"We are at the beginning of this revolution," explained José Miguel Herrero, founder of Big Sur Ventures, a venture capital fund, about the rise of 'edtech'. He also points out some macro trends that favor this phenomenon. One of them, "the need for training continues where telematic tools are going to be more important". There is also a "need to complement training" and specifically in Spain, "with the deterioration of the educational system, complements that can come through online will be sought," he points out. In this sector, Big Sur has become one of the national stars of the sector: Lingokids, an application for children between 2 and 8 years old to learn English and have fun.
