2024 North America EdTech 200

HolonIQ’s annual list of the 200 most promising EdTech startups from North America.

Education Intelligence Unit

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April 12, 2024

The North America EdTech 200 is HolonIQ's annual list of the most promising EdTech startups from North America.

As in previous years, management systems along with workforce and skills are the two largest categories, with learning environments and financing education dominating in management systems, whilst workforce and skills sees significant diversity in solutions, ranging from workforce and career planning to upskilling and mentoring.

This year sees a significant lift in early stage companies with 1 in 5 founded three or less years ago, many focusing on the K12 sector and, not surprisingly, with AI as a core element of their value proposition. The experiencing learning segment remains strong with simulated and immersive learning particularly evident. B2B models once again dominate as the long term integration of digital into formal education progresses.

The North America EdTech 200 is focused on identifying young, fast growing and innovative learning, teaching and up-skilling startups in Canada and the United States. Powered by data and insights from our 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.

Exhibit 1

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.

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HolonIQ’s 2024 North America EdTech 200 is aligned to the Global Learning Landscape, an Open-Source Taxonomy that maps the education and talent market.

Exhibit 2

Artificial Intelligence, simulated and immersive learning is evident across all sectors, and the workforce learning segment grows share.

Startups operating in the workforce sector make up almost 40% of this year's list, consistent with previous years. This year sees healthy diversity across workforce solutions, with growth in Mentoring and Coaching (Leland, Mentor Collective, Pathrise, Sounding Board, and Together). A focus on skills is evident with skills mapping, matching, and skills intelligence solutions seeking to support companies as they identify and support internal talent (Workera, Eightfold AI, QuantHub, Glider.ai) along with startups intent on helping companies to retain and upskill staff (Julius).

Attention to the learner experience is front of mind with many startups in this year's list and the Advanced Technology segment sees growth in immersive and simulated learning offerings from Bright, which uses simulations and personalised coaching to train contact centre staff, to STRIVR and Training All People (TAP3d) who focus on training for hands on jobs.

Education Management is a large category, with learning management systems and education financing solutions dominating this segment across all sectors from PreK to Workforce. Childcare/PreSchool management systems (e.g. BridgeCare Brightwheel) along with alternate early learning solutions (Vivvi, Wonderschool) feature in this category. Startups seeking to solve the talent to jobs mismatch include Passage, a startup that matches immigrants to education and job opportunities, as well as Upright Education, a tech bootcamp solution for universities.

Exhibit 3

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B2B models continue grow share with the long term shift to digital in formal education contexts

Direct-to-consumer start-ups in K12 support reading (Amira Learning, Ello) and pronunciation (Edsoma) along with tutoring and coaching (Ignite! Reading KaiPod Learning Kyron Learning Quizard AI) and enrichment (Brains & Motion, Outschool). D2C workforce solutions centre around upskilling with some focusing on early career skills and job finding (Handshake, Leland, Home From College) and tech skills training (Interview Kickstart, Qwasar Silicon Valley, Reforge, and Repl.it. The mentoring and coaching sees growth with startups such as Pathrise, Twenty Team and Together providing a corporate mentorship management platform.

B2B continues to grow in share and sees startups focusing on digital content, teacher support, curriculum development and management (inquirED, Kiddom, SchoolAI, Upbeat, Wayfinder, Coursedog). In the management systems segment, we see many supports for institutions, from data analytics & decision support system in higher education (Enflux), solutions for admissions counselors (enroll ml), K-12 help desk software & asset management Incident IQ) to student engagement analytics platforms such as (Schoolytics).

Exhibit 4

2024 sees a jump in early stage companies as many who launched in the 2013 heyday cross the 10-year mark

One in five startups in this year's list were launched three or less years ago, representing a marked increase on the last two years. This revival of early stage companies a positive sign, however the extremely tight funding environment will mean that early stage companies need to keep an eye on the bottom line in order to build a sustainable model in the long term. Half of the startups under three years are operating in K12, with many focusing their efforts on embedding AI into their core value proposition (Lirvana Labs, Project Read AI, Class Companion, LitLab.ai, MagicSchool AI, SchoolAI, Quizard AI, Sizzle AI.

 Exhibit 5

Track the 2024 Cohort

HolonIQ customers can track the data for the most promising EdTech startups in North America on the HolonIQ Intelligence Platform. Look for the 2024 HolonIQ North America EdTech 200 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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