by Tony Wan, Head of Investor Content at Reach Capital
The pandemic forced the world to conduct the biggest experiment with online education ever. And what we’ve learned will fundamentally shape the future of teaching and learning.
The early days shone a spotlight on existing disparities. Thirty percent of U.S. K-12 students lacked the necessary technologies for remote learning. Access to live instruction varied greatly; Black and Hispanic students were twice as likely as their white peers to have had no real-time contact with teachers.
Yet we also saw great strides to address inequities. By the end of 2020, education…
by: Esteban Sosnik
For too many years, anyone who has tried raising capital in edtech has faced skeptical investors who cite similar reasons for their reluctance: past investments were underwhelming. Up to 2020, few startups have scaled fast or big enough to generate fund-return exits. And the ones that have gone public were trading at multiples lower than other tech companies.
Those concerns were not unjustified. While massive in size, the education industry has been slow to digitize. Before COVID-19, digital spending accounted for just 3 percent of all education spending. Education is also a broad, complex market with many…
by Jennifer Carolan, General Partner at Reach Capital
In my 25 years in education, I cannot recall a more angst-filled back-to-school time than now. This week, more than half of our nation’s children will have returned to school. For millions of kids, it will be the first time they have stepped foot inside a classroom in more than a year.
The school system they are coming back to is forever changed. Last year, families left the public system in unprecedented numbers, as schools wrestled with developing their online learning muscle while trying to ensure that their most vulnerable students were…
by Chian Gong, Partner at Reach Capital
Shortly after the country went on lockdown last March, I welcomed my first child. Being a new parent was, of course, a life-changing event. But it was hard for me to disentangle what changes were specific to COVID, and what came naturally with parenthood.
What was noticeable was how much of our village of support was digital. It was an incredibly isolating time to be a new parent, but we adapted. My hospital birth and newborn care classes were all delivered via Zoom. …
How an Online Technology School Will Fuel Economic Mobility Across the Region
By Esteban Sosnik (General Partner) and Enzo Cavalie (Investment Associate)
Reach sees education as an engine of economic mobility. And this is especially true in emerging markets like Latin America, where a growing middle class, increased adoption of online learning, and an acute but unmet demand for technology talent have created a ripe opportunity for quality education technology services.
The LatAm tech industry is accelerating dramatically. And as the technology sector grows, demand for technical talent across the region will continue to rise. Yet talent is a bottleneck to the growth of the industry as…
Cómo una Escuela Online de Tecnología Potenciará la Movilidad Social en la Región
Por Esteban Sosnik (Socio) y Enzo Cavalie (Asociado)
En Reach, vemos la educación como un motor de movilidad social. Y esto es especialmente cierto en regiones como Latinoamérica, donde la clase media emergente, la creciente adopción de la educación online, y una demanda significativa pero insatisfecha de talento tech han creado una gran oportunidad para ofrecer educación de calidad habilitada por tecnología.
La industria tech de LatAm está creciendo rápidamente y, por ello, la demanda de talento técnico en la región seguirá aumentando. Sin embargo, actualmente, el talento se ha convertido en una barrera para…
by Tony Wan (Head of Investment Content, Reach Capital) and Brittany Lin (VP of Sales Operations & Partner Development at Honor)
The success of startups is often tied to the success of their customers. And in many ways, the customer journey should be predictable: you know what their priorities and pain points are, and how your products and services can help.
Yet customers’ requests also vary, and it’s tempting to tailor your services to make them happy. …
by Tony Wan, Head of Investor Content, Reach Capital
Over the course of two days this week, the U.S. education technology market felt as if it accelerated by more than two decades.
Duolingo, the popular language-learning app developer, filed for its IPO. So did Instructure, maker of the Canvas learning management system, which will go public (again). Meanwhile, 2U, the publicly traded provider of short courses, bootcamps and online programs from universities, paid $800 million to acquire edX, one of the original MOOC platforms in 2012. …
by Guido Kovalskys (Co-founder, Nearpod)
Dear Guido,
My company is currently fundraising and we have received interest from venture capital and private equity firms. What are the pros and cons of each? How do I weigh which source of capital is right for me?
— Frantically Fundraising
Hi Frantically Fundraising,
First, congratulations! Timing is everything, and this is an incredible environment for fundraising. Back in the early years of the last decade, there were only a handful of edtech-focused funds interested in the education market. …
by Tony Wan, Head of Investor Content at Reach Capital
Every startup starts with a story. And how those stories are shaped and shared are essential to attracting customers, partners, investors and talent as businesses grow.
But stories are only effective if they reach an audience. And breaking through the noise in a media landscape swirling with content can be tough, especially when you’re a small startup. When do you bring in outside help to tell your stories? How do you know if it’s worth it?
Last month, we welcomed Nairi Hourdajian (VP of Communications at Figma) and Sheila Tran…
