In June 2020, HolonIQ announced the Southeast Asia EdTech 50 — a list of the 50 most promising EdTech startups headquartered in Southeast Asia. As we open applications for our annual SEA EdTech 50, we take a look at where the 2020 cohort are now.
The HolonIQ Southeast Asia EdTech 50 is drawn from a broad ASEAN focused cohort of new players rapidly gaining the attention of students, parents, policymakers and investors alike. Southeast Asia EdTech has seen nearly US$480 million of venture capital in over 200 individual investments over the last five years and it’s just getting started.
Innovation in learning and talent is spread right across the region. Companies spanning Up Skilling, Language Learning, Learner Support, LMS/SIS, STEAM and Coding, Financing, Skills Verification and more – made it onto the HolonIQ 2020 Southeast Asia EdTech 50.
The Annual SEA EdTech 50 is focused on identifying young, fast growing and innovative learning and up-skilling start-ups based in the region. To be eligible, startups are generally less than 10 years old (though there are some exceptions), are either headquartered in Southeast Asia, or predominately focused on the market (e.g. > 80% revenue/customers, are pre exit (not acquired or listed) and not a subsidiary of a larger company or controlled by an investor group (e.g. via private equity buyout or controlling investment).
Governments, institutions, investors, schools and educators, influencers and talent leaders from across the region and around the world look to HolonIQ’s SEA EdTech 50 to better understand the dynamics of innovation in the market and the teams who are making a difference in education outcomes.
HolonIQ's Scoring Fingerprint
In 2020, HolonIQ’s Education Intelligence Unit evaluated 500+ EdTech companies based in Southeast Asia, powered by data and insights from our Global Intelligence Platform and local experts. Each organization was assessed using our proprietary scoring engine and following HolonIQ’s startup scoring rubric. Our normalization algorithm ensures that individual scoring bias is eliminated to create an equitable baseline and allows experts to review their own ‘scoring fingerprint’ relative to other experts. HolonIQ’s startup scoring rubric covers the following dimensions:
Market. The quality and relative attractiveness of the specific market in which the company competes.
Product. The quality and uniqueness of the product itself.
Team. The expertise and diversity of the team.
Capital. The financial health of the company and in particular its ability to generate or secure sufficient funding.
Momentum. Positive changes in the size and velocity of the company over time.
