EdTech Unicorn's and the $1B Yuanfudao Mega Round

EdTech started a new decade with $3B of Venture Capital in Q1 2020, boosted by Yuanfudao’s Mega $1B Series G. COVID-19 has thrust Education Technology onto the global stage, supporting the rapid transformation of the way the world learns.

Q1 2020 was an extraordinary period for all of us. No matter where in the world you live, COVID-19 has brought a sudden and unprecedented disruption to humanity. Most governments around the world have temporarily closed campus-based educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. UNESCO estimates that more than 1.5 billion learners – over 90% of the world student population – are confined to their homes.

Providing alternative learning solutions has become the top priority for every ministry of education. Investment in education technology and remote learning will both mitigate the immediate disruption caused by COVID-19 and establish approaches to develop more open and flexible education systems for the future.

The chart below shows over $35B of venture capital funding in EdTech since 2010, backing a vision to transform the way the world learns and supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal four (SDG4). Q1 2020 delivered $3B of Global EdTech Venture Capital, nearly 10% of the prior decades total, in just the first quarter of the new decade. As usual, a number of mega-rounds dominated the quarter – for Q1 this came in Yuanfudao’s $1B Series G, the single largest venture financing round in Education Technology ever.

The most promising 100 private Chinese digital education startups working to transform the way the world learns.

HolonIQ’s first-ever annual cohort of based digital education 100 startups is a list of 100 of the most promising private Chinese based companies creating innovative products and services in the $6T+ education industry, according to worldwide nominations, HolonIQ analytics and global expert consensus.