10 Most Valuable EdTech Companies in the World

Published on August 19, 2021 at 12:36 pm by Ahsan Ullah in Lists, News

In this article, we discuss the 10 most valuable EdTech companies in the world.

EdTech is abbreviated as “education technology”. It uses computer hardware, software, and educational theories designed to facilitate learning. The global EdTech is a broad and diverse field that includes not only the hardware and software programs used in remote learning but also the most effective ways of teaching people new knowledge and skills.

Education Technology Trends for 2021

The Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, and big data were the most widely followed trends for educational technology even before the pandemic. The industry has been revolutionized as the COVID-19 drastically changed the way of teaching and learning. Remote learning has become the top 2020 EdTech trend due to the rapid spread of pandemic and educational institutions closures. This led to rising demand for the digital platform and may continue until 2021.

Global Potential Growth of EdTech Market

EdTech is an emerging market. As of 2018, American EdTech companies alone invested $1.45 billion in computer-aided learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has given the market extra momentum causing the sector’s huge expansion. India’s EdTech, for example, market is projected to increase by 3.7 times in the upcoming five years, boosting from $2.8 billion in 2020 to $10.4 billion in 2025.

According to an education research firm HolonIQ EdTech is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate of 16.3% and will continue to grow 2.5× from 2019 to 2025, reaching $404 billion in total global expenditure. The firm further reports that the EdTech and digital expenditure will make up 5.5% of the $7.3 trillion global education market by 2025.

HolonIQ estimated a $63 billion global market size for EdTech before COVID-19. But the firm now states:

“We now expect total global EdTech expenditure to reach $404B by 2025 representing a 16.3% CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) Or 2.5× growth, between 2019-2025.”

The global EdTech is paving the way for a better and all-inclusive future with revenue projected to rise exponentially as the years and decades run along. With new innovative and creative educational platforms, the EdTech market has surely revolutionized the educational sector and is becoming ubiquitous and need of the hour for nations around the globe.

Due to the online education growth, companies and platforms like Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL), Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc (NYSE: BFAM), Chegg Inc (NYSE: CHGG) and Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ: GOOGL) are experiencing a huge influx of users who want to learn different skills and subjects remotely.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Our Methodology

We listed some of the most notable EdTech companies in the world in this article. We used market cap, funding and valuation to choose these companies along with the robustness and usability of their products and services.

Below is the list of the top 10 most valuable EdTech companies in the world. We have ranked the companies according to their market capitalization and valuation.

10 Most Valuable EdTech Companies in the World

10. ApplyBoard

Valuation: $3.2 billion

ApplyBoard is a Canadian educational technology company that was founded in 2015 by brothers Martin, Meti, and Massi Basiri. The company connects international students, recruitment partners, and academic institutions on one platform. ApplyBoard has partnerships with more than 1,500 primary, secondary, and post-secondary educational institutions.

The company is currently working with 7,500+ recruitment partners. ApplyBoard is one of the largest online platforms for international student recruitment that assists more than 200,000 students across the world. The company has campuses across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia with 30 investors and 1000 employees.

As the demand of online education services soars all over the world, EdTech companies and platforms like Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL), Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc (NYSE: BFAM), Chegg Inc (NYSE: CHGG) and Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ: GOOGL) are expected to gain in the coming months.

9. Udemy

Valuation: $3.3 billion

Udemy, a US-based massive open online course (MOOC) provider, is one of the leading global marketplaces for teaching and learning which connects millions of students to the skills they require to succeed. It offers 155,000 online courses in 65 different languages with more than 70,000 expert instructors.

As of December 2020, the online digital platform connected 40 million students mastering new skills around the globe. The pandemic dramatically accelerated the future work of EdTech. As countries enacted national closures, course enrollments at Udemy increased more than 425%, consumption across Udemy for Business surged 90%, and there was an increase of 55% in course creation by instructors. Due to the rise in demand for online learning the company raised $50 million at a $3.25 billion pre-money valuation in a Series F financing which will enable the company to continue to grow its consumers and business products.

8. Articulate

Valuation: $3.75 billion

Articulate is a US-based EdTech company that offers online learning and training courses. Articulate, developer of e-learning software, allows users to develop interactive courses that work on every device. This enables clients to create e-learning courses for their learning management system (LMS). Articulate operates in 161 countries.

7. VipKid

Valuation: $4.5 billion

VipKid is a China-based EdTech company designed for an online English language learning platform. It connects millions of paying students with teachers in the United States and Canada. Students receive 25-minute English language lessons from expert English teachers.

The COVID-19 proved to be a blessing in disguise for the company as VipKid’s customers increased 3.6 times in 1H 2020 with 150 million one-to-one courses. The company is currently hosting 800,000 paying students and 90,000 American foreign teachers. It has recognized the large-scale application of AI in online teaching. The number of AI interactive courses exceeds 1 million covering 100,000 students. The company is constantly growing and adjusting its products.

6. Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ: DUOL)

Market Cap: $5.051 billion (As of August 18, 2021)

Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL) is a Pittsburgh-based language learning publicly traded online platform. The company was co-founded by Luis Von Ahn, the inventor of CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA, and Severin Hacker in 2011. Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL), a language-learning platform, helps people read, listen and speak various languages on a single platform.

Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL) operates in more than 30 countries providing more than 30 languages. Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL) offers podcasts, stories, and live events around the world. Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL) provides 31 social clubs and 40 board games.

5. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE: BFAM)

Market Cap: $8.61 billion

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc (NYSE: BFAM) is a US-based EdTech company which was founded in 1986. The company offers education and care solutions to its customers helping them to manage their work/life balance. Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE: BFAM) comprises three business segments: full-service center based-child care, Back up care, and educational advisory services. The company generates most of its revenue from full-service center based-child care. The company has 26,800 employees and 29 investors.

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4. Zuoyebang

Valuation: $10.0 billion

Zuoyebang is one of the largest Chinese EdTech companies that offers a platform for online courses, live lessons, and homework help for kindergarten to 12^th grades students. It was launched in 2015 supporting both iOS and Android. The company claims 170 million active users of whom 50 million are seeking service each day.

In 2020, the total number of students in the company’s paid Livestream classes reached more than 10 million setting a record in the history of the industry. A large competition exists among China’s top online learning apps which has become even more intense due to COVID-19. Zuoyebang scored a significant funding round which raised $1.6 billion Series E+ from the investors.

3. Chegg, Inc. (NYSE: CHGG)

Market Cap: $11.567 billion (As of 18 August 2021)

Chegg Inc (NYSE: CHGG) is the third largest publicly traded company in our list of the 10 most valuable EdTech company in the world. The company provides the leading student-first connected online learning platform that helps every student in achieving their best in school and beyond.

Chegg Inc (NYSE: CHGG) was founded in 2005 by Iowa State University students Aayush Phumbhra and Osman Rashid. The US-based Chegg Inc (NYSE: CHGG) offers its products like Cheap Textbooks, Chegg Coupon, Solution Manual, eTextbooks and many more. The company currently has 1,941 employees. Chegg Inc (NYSE: CHGG) provides 25,000 textbooks titles for students with standardized test preparation, career preparation, and study material on its website.

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2. Yuanfudao

Valuation: $15.5

Yuanfudao is a Beijing-based EdTech company that provides online courses and tutoring through an online platform. It is a K12 online education institution established by Li Yong and Li Xin in 2012. Yuanfudao is one of the biggest companies in China with a $15.5 billion valuation making it one of the most valuable private EdTech startups across the world.

As of 2020, the company witnessed more than 400 million users. Yuanfudao offers several online learning products including an online question bank, mathematic problem checking app, question searching app to name a few.

1. BYJU’S

Valuation: $16.5 billion

Byju’s is a multinational educational technology company based in Bangalore, India. It was founded in 2011 by ByJu Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath. As of June 2021, the company is worth $16.5 billion. The company has 40 million users of whom 3 million are annual paid subscribers with an 85% retention rate.

Byju’s furnishes online courses for students from class 4 to 12. The company enables students to prepare for the examination such as IIT-JEE, NEET, IAS in India and international examination such GRE and GMAT. Byju’s works with the vision of providing students with a complete learning experience from the best of teachers across the world.

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