EdTech is accelerating from early childhood to lifelong learning, but where do we draw the line between learning and earning? Job and talent tech are attracting 3x venture capital and growth equity than post-secondary EdTech, as the 'Skills versus Degree's' narrative meets employer sponsored micro-credentials and a resurgent economy.
At the turn of the century, Education Technology or EdTech was nascent and K12 dominated for the next 10-15 years. Post-Secondary EdTech, led by MOOCs, OPMs, Bootcamps and UpSkilling Marketplaces took massive share of venture and growth investment from their K12 peers in the second decade (2010-2019). Around 2015, as K12 handed the lead to Post Secondary EdTech, a new wave was building, this time outside the boundaries of ‘education’ and most notably at the time the form of milestones such as LinkedIn’s acquisition of Lynda.com. The press release shared how ‘lynda.com’s high-quality content provides an opportunity for members to easily gain the professional skills they need to get hired and advance their careers‘. That was six years ago.
Many in education see an ‘inside-out’, formal qualifications centric perspective, noting the dissolving boundary between Vocational and Higher Education let alone the new wave of upskilling, jobtech and human capital centered technology clearly focused on the employer, employee and candidate alike. ‘Learners and Earners’ meanwhile see the full picture, following a spectrum of lumpy and expensive formal credentials to a crowded marketplace of upskilling options and employer-sponsored initiatives to upskill, reskill and retain.
The HolonIQ Intelligence Platform snapshot below shows the quarterly trend over the last five-years of Venture Capital and Growth Equity investment in EdTech and TalentTech/HR Tech/JobTech but exclude K12 and Early Childhood/Pre-K to take that same ‘Learner and Earner’ perspective. Post Secondary/Higher Education investment is highlighted in green and Workforce (TalentTech/HR Tech/JobTech) in blue.
$24B of private funding has fueled the Workforce sector over the past 5 years, more than 3x Post Secondary/Higher Education. We’ve seen waves of investment over that period waning through a trough when COVID hit, then an immediate funding surge mid 2020 when governments and employers everywhere demonstrated very strong demand for short-form digital upskilling alternatives and 2021 has peaked to all-time highs.
The ‘share’ story fluctuates over time, withPost Secondary/Higher Education averaging just 25% funding share to their Workforce (TalentTech/HR Tech/JobTech) peers who are taking 80-90% share through the last two quarters.
