2023 Southeast Asia EdTech 50

HolonIQ’s annual list of the 50 most promising EdTech startups across Southeast Asia

Education Intelligence Unit

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October 23, 2023

The Southeast Asia EdTech 50 is HolonIQ's annual list of the most promising EdTech startups from the region.

The Southeast Asia EdTech 50 is focused on identifying fast growing and innovative learning, teaching and up-skilling startups from across Southeast Asia. Powered by data and insights from the HolonIQ Impact Intelligence Platform together with qualitative assessments by HolonIQ’s Intelligence Unit, and local market experts in each region, organizations are evaluated and scored based on our eligibility and assessment criteria.

This year’s list sees a slightly more mature cohort with early stage companies struggling in a tight funding environment. Language Learning solutions, particularly in the workforce sector, are strong, along with Tutoring and Test Prep, tech Bootcamps and upskilling solutions.

Download the Market Map. Companies are categorized by their main area of focus following the globallearninglandscape.org. Categories in the market map are not mutually exclusive.

Deep Dive the List

Customers can deep dive the open-source list on the platform. Request a demo to learn more.

The Southeast Asia EdTech 50 is aligned to the Global Learning Landscape, an Open-Source Taxonomy that maps the education and talent market

Exhibit 2

Management Systems, particularly financing of education and learning environments represent over one fifth of the cohort, with education financing solutions from Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and Philippines in this year's cohort.

This year sees a growth in the number of Tutoring and Test Prep startups, with companies such as EdgeTutor and CoLearn supporting tutoring solutions and Marathon Education focusing on data for student success. 

Education and Training in the workforce segment also sees a focus on developing and measuringn softskills (Skilio), micro learning (Gnowbe) and connecting talent with short term projects to support skill development (NewCampus).

Exhibit 3

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Vietnam grows in strength to share the stage with Indonesia. Regional hub Singapore represents almost half of the list.

Almost all EdTech startups from Vietnam on the list were founded less than six years ago, illustrative of the emerging market and funding in the country. Singapore, as regional hub represent almost half of the list and Indonesia's share shrinks as the market matures.

Exhibit 4

Direct-to-Consumer models represent two thirds of this year's cohort, with upskilling, language learning and STEAM solutions popular.

Two thirds of this year’s cohort operate a B2C model, across K12, Higher Education and Workforce. K12 D2C offerings include tutoring solutions(Marathon Education, Manabie, Ruangguru) Language Learning (Edupia, Bluente, LingoAce, Globish). Upskilling solutions (Skilio, Ucampus, GeniusU) are focused on connecting talent with jobs.

Exhibit 5

The region has a relatively young and dynamic EdTech ecosystem, however this year's list illustrates a more mature cohort.

A quarter of this year’s cohort were launched within the last 3 years, the vast majority of which operate a direct-to-consumer model and are in the K12 sector, illustrating the consumer market demand for solutions in the language learning, STEAM and tutoring segments. Those EdTech startups over 8 years are mainly supporting workforce learning such as Pintar, ACKTEC and FutureLab.

 Exhibit 6

Track the 2023 Cohort

HolonIQ customers can track the data for the most promising EdTech startups in the region on the HolonIQ Intelligence Platform. Look for the 2023 Southeast Asia EdTech 50 list and double click into the data behind the charts. Request a Demo if you are not a customer and would like to learn more.

Deep Dive the List

Customers can deep dive the open-source list on the platform. Request a demo to learn more.

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Global Insights from HolonIQ’s Intelligence Unit. Powered by our Global Impact Intelligence Platform.

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