These are turbulent time. Given the circumstances, it is not surprising that public markets are cracking and only niche sectors remain unaffected or in a marginally positive position. Edtech is no exception.

Today Brighteye Ventures published her Semi-annual report European Edtech Funding, built around Dealroom’s data. The report focuses mainly on investment activities in Europe, but is contextualized with what we see in other markets.

Global VC funding for edtech startups was $6.5 billion in H1 2022, compared to a total of $20.1 billion raised in 2021. This slump in global funding can be partly explained by fewer edtech mega rounds (more than $100 million) in H1 2022 compared to prior periods.

In the first half of 2022, there were 16 so-called mega-rounds, compared to 24 in the second half of 2021 and 30 in the first half of 2021. At the same time, the number of early-stage rounds, categorized as deals under $15 million, has since peaked. H1 2018 has fallen quite consistently.

Note that this doesn’t necessarily reflect lower activity in the ecosystem – it just means more early deals being done by angels and through involvement with incubators and accelerators, which are not fully covered in the data.

We were pleased to see that the European edtech ecosystem has managed to maintain most of its momentum, at least for now. The fact that the sector has earned $1.4 billion so far in 2022, 40% more than a year earlier, demonstrates its resilience to sustain growth even under challenging conditions.

This is not surprising given the inverse correlation between deteriorating macro-labour markets and hunger for education, especially in the post-18 education market.