Global EdTech Unicorns

A unicorn startup or unicorn company is a private company with a valuation over $1 billion USD priced via a venture funding round. Unicorns are ‘startups’, i.e they do not include 'post-exit', acquired or listed companies, nor do they include ‘mature’ incumbents.

As of January 15, 2023, there are now 13 EdTech Unicorns around the world, collectively valued at $34B. The number of EdTech Unicorns in HolonIQ's list has reduced by 29 companies in the last 12 months (HolonIQ's Jan 2023 and Jan 2024 Valuation Reviews).

No EdTech Unicorns joined the list through 2023 and HolonIQ removed 16 companies from the list in our annual review (Jan 2024), assessed as 'lapsed' based on the period elapsed since the last funding round and the valuation of that round, taking Jan 2024 consensus valuation multiples into consideration.

There were no exits in 2023.

Changes to this list will be published here for the trailing 24 months. See previous changes in the log below the list.

🇮🇳 Byju’s, once valued at $22B, has been revalued by major investors at less than $1B and accordingly is removed from the list in Jan 2024.  

🇺🇸 Course Hero, Outschool, Masterclass, Paper, Andela, ClassDojo, Domestika, Simply (JoyTunes), Newsela, GoGuardian and Quizlet all removed from the list in Jan 2024, assessed as ‘lapsed’. These companies generally completed their last funding round more than 24 months ago at valuations that based on today’s multiples imply a sub $1B valuation by a material margin of error. Companies may be returned to the list following a publicly disclosed priced equity round with a valuation > $1B or by providing information that supports a mark-to-market valuation greater than $1B.

🇮🇳 Unacademy, Lead School, Physics Wallah and Vedantu all removed from the list in Jan 2024, assessed as ‘lapsed’. These companies generally completed their last funding round more than 24 months ago at valuations that based on today’s multiples imply a sub $1B valuation by a material margin of error. Companies may be returned to the list following a publicly disclosed priced equity round with a valuation > $1B or by providing information that supports a mark-to-market valuation greater than $1B.

🇺🇸 Articulate is removed as it is now 20 years old and assessed as a mature incumbent.

Changes to the above list, older than 12 months are published below.

🇨🇳 Changingedu, Golden Education, Hetao101, Huohua Siwei, Huike, HuJiang, Knowbox, VIPKid, Yuanfudao, Yunxuetang and Zuoyebang all removed from the list in Jan 2023, assessed as 'lapsed'. The companies have been subject to major changes in the Chinese education regulatory environment. Companies may be returned to the list following a publicly disclosed priced equity round with a valuation > $1B.

🇺🇸 Udacity removed from the list in Jan 2023, assessed as 'lapsed'. The company has not completed a priced equity round for more than 5 years. Udacity may be returned to the list following a publicly disclosed priced equity round with a valuation > $1B.🇺🇸 ClassDojo joined the list in Jul 2022, raising a $125M Series D.

🇬🇧 Multiverse joined the list in Jun 2022, raising a $220M Series D.

🇮🇳 Physics Wallah joined the list in Jun 2022, raising a $100M Series A.

🇨🇦 Paper joined the list in Feb 2022, raising a $270M Series D.

🇮🇳 Lead School joined the list in Jan 2022, raising a $100M Series E.

🇺🇸 Domestika joined the list in Jan 2022, raising a $110M Series D.

🇺🇸 Udemy left the list in Oct 2021 via IPO, raising $421M with a $3.7B market cap.

🇺🇸 Andela joined the list in September 2021, raising a $200M Series E.

🇮🇳 Vedantu joined the list in September 2021, raising a $100M Series E.

🇮🇳 Emeritus joined the list in August 2021, raising a $650M Series E.

🇮🇳 upGrad joined the list in August 2021, raising a $65M VC Round.

🇺🇸 GoGuardian joined the list in August 2021, raising a $200M PE Round.

🇺🇸 Duolingo left the list in July 2021 via IPO, raising $521 million with a $5B market cap.

🇺🇸 Articulate joined the list in July 2021, raising a $1.5B Series A.

🇦🇹 GoStudent joined the list in June 2021, raising a $244M Series C.

🇦🇺 Go1 joined the list in July 2021, raising a $244M VC Round.

🇮🇱 JoyTunes (now Simply) joined the list in June 2021, raising a $50M Series D.

🇨🇳 Zhangmen left the list in June 2021 via IPO, raising nearly $42 million with a $2B market cap.

🇺🇸 Masterclass joined the list in May 2021, raising a $225M Series F.

🇺🇸 Handshake joined the list in May 2021, raising a $80M Series E.

🇺🇸 Outschool joined the list in April 2021, raising a $75M Series C.

🇺🇸 Degreed joined the list in April 2021, raising a $153M Series D.

🇺🇸 Coursera left the list in March 2021 via IPO, raising nearly $520 million at an implied $4.3 billion valuation and closing the day up 36%, giving Coursera a market cap of $5.9 billion at the end of its first day of trading.

🇨🇳 Yunxuetang (云学堂) joined the list in March 2021, raising a $190M Series E.

🇺🇸 BetterUp joined the list in February 2021, raising a $125M Series D.

🇺🇸 Newsela joined the list in February 2021, raising a $100M Series D.