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Edtech Boom Boosted by Experiences in Lockdown

• Coronavirus lockdown opens new paths for online education
• The edtech field may see its growth accelerating even faster because of pandemic
• The world of education and worker retraining has been upended by the coronavirus, with many changes that could have long-lasting impacts

By: Bruce Rule

Teacher Kai Frazier had a hard time persuading venture capital investors to consider her online education startup, which provides virtual-reality tours of museums and historic sites for children. Then the deadly coronavirus caused societies to shut down worldwide.

“VCs thought that this was only for poor kids who couldn’t afford to go to museums,” Frazier told Karma. “COVID-19 took that argument out” and led potential investors to reconsider Kai XR, she said. Now, Frazier is in the midst of a funding round that may net between $500,000 and $1 million.

With almost 1.2 billion children locked out of schools and millions of adults out of work around the globe, the deadly coronavirus pandemic is forcing the world to re-examine how best to educate and retrain people. That may spur even faster growth of online education, a field that was already expected to surge to $319 billion by 2025 from $188 billion last year.

“COVID-19 is a terrible thing, but what it also did was break down structures that weren’t serving a lot of people,” Frazier said. “Online education may quickly become the classroom experience.”

Her company produces virtual reality tours — like this one of the Obama portraits — that will be viewed online for a monthly subscription fee on a platform that launched last month. The company has seen a 200% increase in people signing up for a free demonstration because of the pandemic.

With VR tours, a child can have a wide range of experiences — from touring a Negro League baseball museum to seeing how a windmill works — that might not otherwise be available because of cost or distance, Frazier said. Online can provide a “diverse education.”

Investors certainly are betting so. A record $18.7 billion was invested in edtech companies worldwide last year, according to research firm Metaari. The pandemic doesn’t seem to have killed enthusiasm for the field. In March, online education company Yuanfudao of China raised $1 billion in a finance round led by Tencent Holdings and private equity firm Hillhouse Capital Group.

According to education research firm HolonIQ, a lot of that growth will eventually be in emerging markets in India, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa, “where multi-billion dollar funds are being set up to deploy capital into education and other ESG and impact sectors.”
   
Worker retraining also has become a hot topic, with a White House advisory panel last week saying new pathways are needed for the unemployed to upgrade their skills and learn new ones so they can find jobs in fields that are expected to rebound first.

Guild Education is responding to that need. The edtech company was founded in 2015 to help employers including Chipotle, Disney and Walmart create education programs for workers by connecting companies with higher-ed programs at nonprofit universities.

Earlier this month, Guild launched the Next Chapter platform, which enables employers to
provide laid-off workers with access to reskilling programs and hands-on coaching to help them qualify for new positions in areas where demand will increase as the economy reopens.

“Next Chapter was created to help workers make the leap to higher wage” positions, Rachel Carlson, Guild’s CEO, said in an email to Karma.

Investors are also jumping into the field of worker training. Online training platform GO1.com announced this week it raised $40 million in Series C funding.
 
“What has been made clear through this pandemic is the importance of disseminating knowledge across borders, companies, and all parts of society,” The World Economic Forum said in a report last month. “If online learning technology can play a role here, it is incumbent upon all of us to explore its full potential.”

Source: https://karmaimpact.com/edtech-boom-boosted-by-experiences-in-lockdown/

• Company has augmented the Board of Directors to include international Board of Directors and Board Advisors
• Joining the Board of Directors is Duncan Cowie, CPA-CA, and as a Principal Advisor to the Board of Directors, Ambassador Vishnu Prakash

OTTAWA, May 15, 2020 — betterU Education Corp. (TSX VENTURE:BTRU) (FRANKFURT:5OGA), (the “Company” or “betterU”) is pleased to announce that as part of the Company’s 2020 restructuring plan the Company has augmented the Board of Directors to include international Board of Directors and Board Advisors. Joining the Board of Directors is Duncan Cowie, CPA-CA, and as a Principal Advisor to the Board of Directors, Ambassador Vishnu Prakash. The new board support will advance the Company’s expertise in the areas of the education marketing, global business development, financial management, M&A, public markets and board governance. The Company will also continue its efforts over the months to come, to add more expertise to support the Board of Directors and Company leadership.  

Board members Praveen Varshney, Robert Kang and Rajeev Dewan have agreed to step down from the board of Directors effective immediately to allow for the restructuring of the new board and advisors to take place. “With the transformation of our business in early 2020, the advancements of our North American B2B SaaS focus and clients, along with our international growth plans, it is time to bring in new leadership and governance that can help transform and advance our global growth. I want to thank the exiting board members for their time and commitment to the company over the years. Both myself and my Board Chairman, Tony Keenan will continue to work at advancing the strength and support our leadership to be successful in 2020 and beyond”, said Brad Loiselle, President and CEO betterU.   

In early 2020 betterU started advancing their innovative B2B Ready-To-Go platform resulting in several new North American clients. While the betterU team continues to advance their automation and AI capabilities to support the scale of international users, the new Board and Special Board Advisors will provide greater insight, financial governance, investor, public support and connections to help accelerate betterU’s global growth in revenues and strategic partnerships.

About Duncan Cowie

Mr. Cowie has over three decades of holding senior executive positions including as the CEO Global Connect-China, the Executive VP and Regional Manager for Transcom Worldwide / NuComm International, the VP and General Manager / Finance of CSA Group, the Sr. VP and CFO Minacs Worldwide, the CFO and VP for The Hospital for Sick Children and the VP Strategic and Business planning Molson Breweries.

Mr. Cowie also has five years of experience building education and training programs. Experienced in corporate development activities including leadership of international business operations, mergers and acquisitions, partnerships and agency structures. Results demonstrated through leadership decision- making, organizational design and people development, and through the design and execution of strategic and tactical plans. Mr. Cowie’s experience spans the globe with a focus on China and Asia, North America and Europe. Delivering creative and innovative teaching approaches built on real-life experiences and solutions for complex business issues.

“betterU is a rare ed-tech that is driven by a passionate team with a global vision and solutions that are starting to take shape. I am excited to join betterU’s Board of Directors to help support and advance their global efforts. I am looking forward to digging deep into the company and helping them grow,” said Duncan Cowie.

About Ambassador Vishnu Prakash, former Envoy to Canada and South Korea

Mr. Prakash is a lawyer (gold medalist) by training and a diplomat by profession, retired as India’s High Commissioner to Canada in November 2016, after over 35 years in the saddle, as an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer. Hitherto, he was Ambassador to South Korea, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs and Consul General to Shanghai. He also held various positions at Indian Missions in Tokyo, New York, Moscow, Islamabad, Vladivostok and Cairo. Mr. Prakash did a sabbatical with the ‘Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies’ in Hawaii (USA) in 1996. In 2013, he was conferred an Honorary Doctoral degree in Business Administration by Tongmyong University, Busan (South Korea) and also recognized as the ‘Ambassador of the Year, 2014’ by the Asia Society, Korea Center.

Presently Mr. Prakash is a foreign affairs analyst, speaker, columnist and commentator. His areas of interest span the Indo-Pacific region, including North-east Asia (China, Japan and Koreas), ASEAN & South Asia, the US, Canada and Israel.

Ambassador Prakash is a sought-after speaker, across the country, by colleges, Universities and training institutions especially on Indian diplomacy and international issues. He was recognized as an “Outstanding Diplomat” by PIMR (Prestige Institute of Management and Research), Indore in January 2020.

He has been writing for Hindustan Times, The Korea Times, The Asian Age, ETV Bharat, and The Quint, among other media outlets. Mr. Prakash has been associated with and / or contributing papers / articles for prominent think-tanks like IDSA, Ananta Aspen Centre, ORF, VIF and ICS, to name a few. He has also contributed chapters for publications by IDSA and Indian Foreign Affairs Journal. Amb. Prakash regularly appears as an expert panelist on Indian and international TV channels.

“I have had the opportunity to work with the CEO of betterU for many years and have grown fond of his vision and passion for supporting access to education in my country. I am thrilled to join the Company as a Principle Advisory to the Board of Directors and I will be working closely with all board members and the Company’s leadership to help support their efforts not only in India, but globally as well”, said Ambassador Prakash.

About betterU Education Corp.

betterU is an education-to-employment technology company offering an end-to-end solution leveraging business intelligence to automate skilling, reskilling and upskilling for companies operating on domestic and global scales. If you are looking for support in regards to COVID-19, please visit https://readytogo.betteru.ca/ to download your free COVID-19 Resource Toolkit.

betterU has integrated into its platform the content, technology and support for tailored skills assessments, learning pathways and training modules from 100+ of the world’s leading online education providers. betterU’s eco-system includes detailed job, skill, employer, and educational profiles spanning 3,000+ standardized jobs. betterU’s integrated platform is the most efficient solution to address evolving skilling challenges for employers and employees through the employment lifecycle from entry level to executive. We don’t sell content; we help build better people. 

For more information, please visit https://corporate.betteru.ca/  For more information about betterU’s Enterprise SaaS Program please visit https://readytogo.betteru.ca/

Contact:

Brad Loiselle, CEO
1-613-695-4100

betterU Education Corp.
Investor Relations
Email: [email protected]

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