Following a boom in EdTech investment in 2020 and 2021, the past few years have seen a dramatic fall in EdTech funding. In Q1 2024, global EdTech investment returned to 2014 levels of funding. In response to this significant decrease in EdTech funding, EdTech founders have had to adapt to new dynamics in EdTech investments and a new environment for building their EdTech startups.
At WGU Labs, we were keen to explore how these changes affected EdTech founders and the startups they've established. To gather their perspectives, WGU Labs surveyed EdTech founders to learn more about the current EdTech landscape and their startup experiences. This survey provided a look inside the tumultuous EdTech startup experience, revealing some little-known realities about the founders behind them. Despite the turmoil, EdTech founders are adapting, and we look forward to continuing this exploration as the landscape of EdTech startups evolves further.
Key takeaways:
- Impact investor and VC funding has dropped off: 47% of founders have no institutional VCs and 55% have no impact investors
- It takes a village: 72% of responding founders have 1-3 co-founders, and almost 76% built investor interest by tapping their personal networks
- Direct engagement is still the best way to sell: 57% of responding founders use conference exhibiting for lead generation
- Founders may be overestimating the appetite for AI in higher education: 65% of responding founders believe that AI in learning is an attractive investment for the future, but only 52% of admin and 42% of faculty believe that AI will have a positive impact on higher education
