UK leads Europe as the main recipient of US investment in the EdTech sector in 2020

Lockdown measures and mandatory school closures in 2020 has attracted significant US Venture Capital investment in UK, say leading tax and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg.

Simon Gleeson, a partner at the firm said: “ The EdTech sector in the is valued at £3.5bn, has more than 600 start-ups and is being noticed by US investors who have seen an opportunity to invest in a sector that is growing fast.”

He added: “ The recent investment of $44m in UK’s WhiteHat, now rebranded as Multiverse tops a strong 12 months where UK EdTech grew by 72% vs 18% globally and this continues to grow.”

Simon said: “ In the early stages of lockdown, Thomas Bravo LLC, completed the $2bn acquisition of Instructure, a Utah-headquartered EdTech platform, highlighting the potential returns for learning management solutions.”

He added: “ Lockdown measures in UK forced an immediate pivot in teaching methodologies to embrace “digital classrooms” over-coming a long-perceived view that the education system was not equipped with the tools and training required to implement and it worked.

Simon said: “ Education has also been presented with a unique opportunity to tackle some of the many challenges of diversity and inclusion by being more accessible digitally and at a cost more affordable the wider population and much of this will be retained when we come out of the present Covid restrictions.

He added: “ We have seen a lot of commentary on remote working and the benefits this will bring to attract and retain talent but what is equally as exciting is how many more of our future generations will have better access to education from apprenticeships to university accreditations at an affordable cost which in the past has been the main inhibitor.”

Simon said: “ UK Tech is well placed to act as a catalyst and key player globally. It won’t be long before the UK joins the US in creating the first UK EdTech Unicorn.”