Edtech Asia #2: China bans AI-generated media and tightens the rein of private tutoring, Forbes predicted a huge potential of ed-tech in the SEA region
This week, let’s uncover some news we haven’t shared from 2022, and the hottest predictions of 2023.
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This week, let’s uncover some news we haven’t shared from 2022, and the hottest predictions of 2023.
TL;DR
The biggest headlines in Edtech Asia
Uolo raises $22.5M. Australia invests A$402M for skills sector
China bans AI-generated media and tightens the rein of private tutoring
EU supports ASEAN’s HigherEd with €10 billion (US$10.7B)
Forbes predicted that ed-tech has a huge potential, especially in the SEA region
Technical skills tend to have a shorter shelf life due to the rapid advancement of technology
🤑 Fundings | Investments | M&A | IPO
[🇮🇳 ] Uolo raises $22.5M. This India-based edtech startup is using a B2B2C revenue model to reduce operational costs and offer affordable education in India. They are working with private schools to integrate the online learning programs they offer for students. Uolo is currently backed by the new Dubai-based fund Morphosis VC and Winter VC. They plan to use their funding to expand their learning programs across India.
[🇮🇳 ] LEAD raised ₹ 35 Crore ($4.2M) in debt funds. This funding round is backed by a venture debt firm, Alteria Capital. Overall, venture capitalists have invested close to $166 million in the startup since its inception and LEAD was valued at $1.1 billion, which made them a unicorn. LEAD provides digital resources to over 1.2 million students and 25,000 teachers.
[🇮🇳 ] ClassMonitor Raises ₹ 10 Crore in Pre Series A Round. Classmonitor aims to invest in AI-ML-based tech to strengthen they learning and assessment model. Additionally, they are planning to build organic traction in international market with a focus of expansion in UAE.
[🇦🇺 ] Australia invests A$402M (US$276M) to strengthen skills sector. This investment will address skills shortages and broader workforce challenges through a tripartite leadership with JSA and JSC.
[🇮🇳 ] PhysicsWallah acquires iNeuron. The deal has 2.1x returns for iNeuron, and this acquisition will focus on developing solutions & channels to offer more interactive learning for K-12.
[🇨🇳 ] QuantaSing files for IPO(Pending:QSG) with $60M proposal. The company is a leading provider for adult learning in China with 58M registered users and 1.1M paid learners.
🤦🏻♀️ Layoffs | Shutdowns
Teachmint laid off 5% of their workforce. They plan to restructure their operations for long-term efficacies and address redundancies.
Vedantu laid off 385 employees. This unicorn has laid off over 1k employees last year and is left with around 3.3k employees, and the founding team are taking 50% pay cut to save expenditures amid funding winter.
Pluralsight laid off 400 (20%) employees. Pluralsight is cutting expenditures and restructuring for long term efficacies after having a net loss of $163.5M in 2019 and $164M in 2020.
💡 Insights | Interesting Reads | Hottest News
[🇨🇳 ] China bans AI-generated media without watermarks. This regulation took effect yesterday, January 10, 2023. While Generative AI is sweeping away the tech world by its magic, China creates new regulations and compliance to prevent fraud, scams, and other disinformation.
[🇨🇳 ] China tightens the rein of private tutoring. China's edtech sector is said to grow to $100 billion. However, huge education companies fell up to 30% recently. The Chinese government released new policies for these private education services that ban them from making profits, raising capital, or going public. It is obvious that the government is controlling the private tutoring services' growth amidst high demand.
[🇮🇩 🇮🇳 ] RISE expands to Indonesia. They recently announced its expansion to Indonesian market and tightens connection in the Higher Ed sector. RISE is the forefront of the Hybrid Edtech Innovation in India collaborating with multiple leading institutes.
[🇮🇩 ] Indonesia advancing digital cooperation with Gulf Arab countries. For the past years, UAE and other Arab countries has strengthened their collaboration with Indonesia through different funding support, partnerships, and investments. In the education sector, Alef Education, a UAE-based edtech platform provides free digital services to Indonesian students. Another example is UAE’s existing $10Billion funding commitment for Indonesia’s new capital project to invest in elearning and digital infrastractures.
[🇮🇩 ] Cakap is empowering teachers across Asia Pacific. This Indonesia-based edtech startup has helped 483 educators advance their online teaching skills. Cakap is an upskilling learning application that connects students with educators and industry experts through video calls and text conversations.
[🇵🇭 ] International Filipino students is growing 13% in 5 years. Students are driven to take postgraduate studies in English-speaking countries: Canada and Australia to pursue career opportunities and a better living.
[🇪🇺 ] EU supports ASEAN’s Higher Ed with €10 billion (US$10.7B). This was announced during the EU-ASEAN summit as part of the EU’s Global Gateway initiative. This support entails the involvement of both hard and ‘soft’ infrastracture in the areas of digitalisation and digital connectivity, climate and energy, transport and health.
🔮 Predictions for 2023
These are the Key Edtech Trends to watch in 2023, according to top VCs:
startups that can enhance in-classroom learning deficits and mental-health-related behavioural issues,
hybrid and enhanced in-person learning programs with some type of human interaction, like in-person small-group meetings or synchronous live video elements (in contrast to online-only programs),
fewer new Edtech companies springing to life in 2023 and more startups consolidating through mergers and acquisitions
VR and AI will enter classrooms around the world and especially generative AI that can create content, has the potential to become increasingly prevalent in schools and universities in the form of tutoring tools or teaching aids
What is the Future of Edtech? According to Forbes, new and interesting products and services, such as online courses, will exponentially improve through the use of virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). However, building an educational technology (edtech) startup will become more difficult due to the fast-moving evolution of technology. If the uniqueness of the product is highly different from the rest, it can survive even in a saturated market. Edtech has a huge potential, especially in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region.
Skills, Skills, Skills. Written by Obviously The Future, this article is an eye-opener to us on how crucial skills are in this generation. Skills are the new currency, and technical skills tend to have a shorter shelf life due to the rapid advancement of technology. The writers also introduced three sub-trends in this topic:
Skills gap: the skills Higher Ed produces ≠ skills valued in the labor market
Skill-based hiring is the new trend
“career change” will happen more often than ever!
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