Series-A. 1H 2019 Global EdTech Trends

Globally, EdTech has reached nearly 2,000 Venture Capital Rounds explicitly labeled as “Series A”. HolonIQ tracks every Education Investment around the world from Seed to Unicorn and Capital Markets.

China is the leader by far, out-investing US Series-A Rounds in volume terms 3 to 1. The US leads Europe and India in an increasingly Post-Secondary and Skills/Talent dominated agenda as K12’s early lead in EdTech VC has plateaued and markets like Pre-K and STEAM are coming to life.

EdTech, like most other verticals, has been experiencing a tectonic expectation shift across stages — seed deals look like As, As look like Bs and so on. There are material differences across markets as well, China’s EdTech rounds are much larger than the rest of the world for example. The first half of 2019 has revealed some fascinating global trends in the evolution of Series A.

Median Series A has continued to climb, now approaching $6m and in 1H19 delivering another material lift on the prior period but less of a gain on 2018 vs 2017. The Top and Bottom Quartile, however, have lost ground on 2018. While the Bottom Quartile change is not significant, the 1H19 Top Quartile represents a major change. 2016 cooled off the 2015 frenzy and the next two years saw exponential moves in the Top Quartile, principally driven by a massive expansion in Chinese deals and a hot US market.

Here is what that evolution of EdTech ‘Series A’ rounds looks like over the last 10 years.