We are all influenced by our educational experiences. Sometimes with fondness, other times with anxiety, we can recall memories from kindergarten through high school, and from college to HR training at a new company. Although we might think of education as a one-room, red-brick schoolhouse, it has evolved and grown into a globe-spanning industry poised for rapid growth.

教育领域的投资者和公司认识到全球宏观趋势将继续推动增长, notably:

• Population growth in developing countries
• Rising demand for educational technology, tools, and services
• Increasing digitization to improve outcomes and efficiency
• 解决行业关键问题的机会(学生债务、考试成绩持平)

本文将概述教育科技市场的规模和范围，并讨论2020年及以后教育科技行业的两个关键趋势.

Sizing the Education and EdTech Markets

In the US, education expenditures are just over 6% of GDP, or nearly $1.2 trillion. Similar to the healthcare industry, the education market is heavily influenced by the government at all levels. 正如人们所料，教育支出和教育科技支出之间存在巨大差异. 大部分教育支出都花在了劳动力(教师和行政人员)和物理设施上. The research firm HolonIQ estimates that less than 3% of education spend is allocated to technology.

What Comprises the EdTech Industry?

全球教育科技市场是一个多元化和快速增长的行业，在整个商业生命周期中都有很大的发展空间, from early-stage startups to middle-market companies to publicly traded companies. 它不仅吸引了业内资深人士的关注，也吸引了多面手投资者的关注. Across the three main education categories (PreK-12, post-secondary, and corporate training), technology is infused throughout the life of a learner. 经验丰富的投资者知道，在教育科技市场中，每个类别都是作为自己的子细分市场运作的. Each category is unique and has different end users, buyers, and funding mechanisms.

Due to differences in methodology and categorizations, 各种出版物已经发布了投资数据，可以让我们进行三角测量并了解规模, scope, and growth of the edtech market:

US edtech venture capital investment. According to EdSurge, there was $1.7 billion invested by venture capital funds into the edtech market in 2019 across 105 deals. These were dominated by large Series C investments.

Global venture investment in edtech. Zooming out to investments globally, HolonIQ released a report that showed $7.0 billion global education venture capital funding in 2019. Even more telling is the stunning rate of growth from $0.5 billion of edtech VC funding in 2010. They are also predicting a tripling of investment in edtech over the next decade.

Global learning technology investment. Looking more broadly in scope to include learning technology suppliers, according to Metaari, there was $18.7 billion of global private investment in learning technology suppliers in 2019.

Private equity is also eyeing education investments. In addition to venture capital investment in edtech, dozens of private equity funds continue to be raised specifically to invest in the education sector (or have articulated education as a focus industry). 最重要的是，教育越来越被归类为“影响力”行业，吸引着 institutional investors looking to up their allocations to impact sectors.

Publicly traded education companies. Another sizeable portion of the edtech market is the publicly traded names. When looking at this group in the US, there are 29 companies that total $71 billion in market capitalization (as of January 27, 2020).

EdTech Trends to Watch in 2020

What do recent investments, M&A, and market moves mean for trends in 2020? What can we expect to see in 2020 and beyond? Given the size, complexity, and diversity of the edtech market, there are a near-limitless number of themes to explore. 但是，跨越所有类别和阶段的两个主题将对2020年广泛的教育技术趋势产生重大影响: online learning and emerging technologies.

Trend #1: Online learning will accelerate in 2020

Through the last decade, there was plenty of hype surrounding online learning, from early predictions that half of high school courses would be taught online by 2019 to declaring 2012 the “year of the MOOC” (massive open online course). However, after trudging through the “trough of disillusionment,” it’s arguable that online learning is experiencing a renaissance, and recent investment activity certainly backs this up.

早期风投支持的参与者试图颠覆高等教育和企业学习的各个方面. Recent fundraising from Outlier, MasterClass, Osmosis, Coursera, and Degreed demonstrates a high interest in online learning from investors. Each of these companies is very different in its approach to online learning, targeting different learners. Outlier offers introductory college-level courses, while Osmosis provides supplementary videos for healthcare students and professionals. 公司的多样性表明，在线学习的好处几乎得到了无穷无尽的应用. Entrepreneurs continually search for ways to improve on the status quo.

K-12在线学习领域的在线玩家继续通过收购实现有机增长. In the K-12 space, 与一些更流行的流行语，如能力教育相比，在线学习这个话题似乎已经淡出了人们的视野, personalized learning, or social-emotional learning. 但K-12教育领域的一些大公司在收购方面已经采取了重大举措, which could be an indication of things to come. In January 2020, the major online education provider K12, Inc. acquired Galvanize, a coding bootcamp, signifying a move to diversify beyond the K12 and online realms. Another major digital education player, Edgenuity—which is backed by private equity firm Weld North—made three acquisitions in the last 12 months. Other private equity-backed providers in this space like Edmentum, Apex, 和Accelerate将继续寻找机会，利用不断增长的在线K-12市场.

Large nonprofit players taking share in higher ed. The continued growth of well-regarded nonprofit post-secondary online providers such as Western Governors, Southern New Hampshire University, 亚利桑那州立大学将继续对公开交易的营利性高等教育业务构成重大威胁. The increased competition will put downward pressure on pricing and enrollments. This will ultimately accrue to the benefit of students, though the impact will be felt by other market participants. 我们可能会继续看到学校关闭(见下表)或转为非营利机构.

Don’t forget China and India. 印度和中国的网络市场都很火热，在后期风投和ipo中吸引了大量资金. The last couple of years have been highlighted by the $500-million-plus raises by BYJU’S, VIPKid, and TAL Education. 这些国家数以亿计的在线学习者提供了巨大的机会, 但外部参与者发现，很难进入中国市场，也很难与国内巨头竞争. 语言学习、在线辅导和技术技能将继续成为未来的主要主题 India and China.

Trend #2: Emerging technologies will begin to make their mark in education

Nearly every new technology incorporated into technology, from books to the radio, from the computer to the internet, experienced pushback from the education establishment and took time to be appropriately integrated. 许多新技术的提供者通过炒作和不合理的期望并没有给自己带来任何好处. Still, despite some failures and setbacks of some companies and products, 今天的革新者们继续探索用尖端技术增强学习者体验的方法.

Immersive technologies gain investor interest. Fundraising from companies like Labster and Interplay Learning demonstrates interest and potential for virtual reality (VR) in education. Interplay Learning, which raised $5.该公司主要为暖通空调和太阳能安装行业提供VR和3D培训. And Interplay is involved in a relatively small sub-segment of one single industry! 对他们来说，吸引了风险投资，并取得了惊人的增长，这显示了这项技术的潜力，因为越来越多的应用程序被用于其他行业和职业.

Augmented reality (AR) applications. Building on the popularity of Pokemon Go!, its creator Niantic Labs raised $245 million in 2019 and continues to invest in AR education applications.

在教育中使用人工智能(AI)和机器学习:适应性学习. While previous attempts at adaptive learning, such as Knewton, failed to live up to lofty expectations, 新的参与者正在筹集新的资金，为教育科技市场的特定利基市场创造解决方案. These AI-based tools such as Quizlet, Kidaptive, KidSense, and Querium are applying machine learning systems to improve education. For educators evaluating the use of these tools in the classroom, questions around algorithmic bias, privacy risks, and efficacy are top of mind.

Robotics in education is maturing. Robot kits for the classroom are turning into a relatively saturated category (from startups to Lego) but, as a whole, will provide opportunities for students to learn STEM and coding skills. Other products like Roybi are using robots and AI to help with early-age learning and language acquisition. 另一家寻求解决在学校维护学习机器人车队的成本和硬件问题的公司是 Robotify, which teaches coding and robotics in a virtual setting.

There’s a blockchain for that. 如果不提到区块链技术，有什么新兴技术清单是完整的呢? 为教育领域提供基于区块链解决方案的公司也在激增, 主要利用区块链的不变性来保护和验证学位和证书. The two companies with some decent fundraising and traction to date include Credly and Learning Machine而ZipRecruiter和Upwork等知名品牌最近也成立了一个联盟 Velocity Network.

下面这张来自HolonIQ的图表显示了未来五年这些教育领域的指数级增长.

Who Are the Winners?

教育科技是一个庞大而多样化的行业，在整个商业生命周期中都有大量的机会, though ongoing risks (regulation, funding cycles, competition) should remain top of mind for investors. 在线学习和新兴技术的进步将继续改善教育成果. Ultimately, the best companies, investors, and impactors in this space will be those who put the student at the center. Finding ways to reduce costs, deliver quality pedagogy, 随着教育科技市场的发展和成熟，证明有影响力的结果将被证明是长期的赢家.