The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) finances tech start-ups with growth potential and has supported more than 700 start-ups since 2005. With the launch of its fourth fund, HTGF now has about 1.4 billion euros under management. Its team of experienced investment managers and start-up experts support young companies with expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and passion. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial tech, life sciences, chemistry and related business areas. To date, external investors have injected about 5 billion euros of capital into the HTGF portfolio via more than 2,000 follow-on financing rounds. In addition, HTGF has already successfully sold shares in more than 170 companies. Fund investors in this public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital and 45 companies from a wide range of industries. Fund investors in this public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital and 45 companies from a wide range of industries.

HTGF | High-Tech Gruenderfonds

PANDO Ventures is a German start-up accelerator in the Rhine-Main area (Frankfurt/Main) that enables passionate entrepreneurs to set up their own company and grow in the long term. Participants receive active 1-on-1 support in the accelerator program, access to a broad network of entrepreneurs, experts, partners and finally business angels, corporate investors and VCs.  The focus is on digital and rapidly scalable business models. Above all, experience and contacts in the areas of Fintech, Educationtech, SaaS, platforms, mobile apps, e-commerce and Food & Beverage are available. The current technological transformation offers both consumers and entrepreneurs the opportunity to gain knowledge about markets and products that were previously unavailable.  PANDO. takes up this development within the program and combines it with a strong customer-oriented thinking to create a product that achieves an optimal product-market fit.

PANDO. Ventures

HV Capital is a Munich- and Berlin-based venture capital firm that supports founders in developing their internet companies. Since 2000 HV Capital, formerly HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, has invested in Internet and technology companies through various generations of funds and is one of the most successful and financially strongest early-stage and growth investors in Europe. HV Capital has already invested in around 200 companies, including Zalando, Delivery Hero, FlixMobility and SumUp. The total of all HV Funds amounts to €1.7 billion. The company supports startups with capital between €500,000 and €50 million. This makes HV Capital one of the few venture capitalists in Europe that can finance startups through all growth phases.

HV Capital

Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH is a German family equity company based in Duisburg-Ruhrort since its foundation in 1756. From there, the holding company, which is 100 percent family-owned, creates a diversified portfolio. It pursues a unique investment strategy as a value developer that combines a consistent alignment with sustainability criteria with a clear performance orientation.

Haniel

Kreos Capital is Europe's largest and leading provider of growth debt to high-growth companies with revenues up to €150 million. Since 1998, as the pioneer growth debt provider across the UK, Western Europe, Scandinavia and Israel: Kreos has completed nearly 450 transactions and committed €1.8 billion in 14 different countries. Kreos has a proven track record of adding value to portfolio companies and helping them to grow with additional capital and flexibility throughout their business cycle whilst working closely with both the portfolio company management team and their equity sponsors.  The Kreos global team has extensive debt financing, management and equity investing experience, covering the pan-European market from its locations in London, Tel Aviv and Stockholm.  Kreos is a value added partner, able to offer additional capital and more flexibility with lower equity dilution. Kreos's international team has extensive entrepreneurial, debt financing and equity investing experience, covering all local European markets from its locations in London, Tel Aviv and Stockholm.

Kreos Capital

Brighteye Ventures is a Paris-based education technology venture capital firm. Brighteye Ventures looks for exciting start-ups at the intersection of learning, entertainment, and creativity to empower and expand the frontiers of human potential. They are the leading EdTech venture capital fund in Europe. Leveraging deep experience and relationships in tech, education, media, and VC. Investing at Seed and Series A stages, we help portfolio companies refine a product, build partnerships, and scale across geographies. They are looking for entrepreneurs that use technology and industry knowledge to build competitive businesses that can become global leaders.

Brighteye Ventures

JSM Hinderer GmbH

Sdui

Sdui is the solution for mobile communication in schools. With amazingly easy features for messaging, timetables and a wide range of third party integrations, the app digitizes processes and reduces administrative effort. Within two years, Sdui has reached hundreds of institutions and grown a serious reputation in the educational market.

<div><p>Sdui, a Germany-based EdTech solution, provides schools and daycare centers with a user-friendly app that facilitates secure communication and organization among teachers, students, and families. The platform offers a variety of features such as video calls, cloud storage, timetable management, and translation services to ensure GDPR compliance, making the transition between in-person and remote learning easy. Moreover, the company provides a dedicated customer service team to assist schools and daycare centers in their digitalization journey. As of February 2023, Sdui was being used in several European countries, including Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. The platform had over 1.5 million users from more than 10,000 educational institutions.</p></div>

Remote learning is driving an education technology revolution.

EdTech: K-12

<div>
  <p>
    Sdui, a Germany-based EdTech solution, provides schools and daycare centers with a user-friendly app that facilitates secure communication and organization among teachers, students, and families. The platform offers a variety of features such as video calls, cloud storage, timetable management, and translation services to ensure GDPR compliance, making the transition between in-person and remote learning easy. Moreover, the company provides a dedicated customer service team to assist schools and daycare centers in their digitalization journey. As of February 2023, Sdui was being used in several European countries, including Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. The platform had over 1.5 million users from more than 10,000 educational institutions.
  </p>
  <p>
    Sdui acquired two educational platforms, Pupil, a Swiss school platform, and Konecto app, a Belgian communication platform, in February 2022, allowing them to retain their original names and operate independently, with the aim of enhancing their functionality through integrations and collaborations.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In February 2023, the company raised 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16706?industryIds=21">
      <u>EUR 25 million (~USD 27.5 million) in an extended Series A funding</u>
    </a>
     round led by HV Capital and Haniel. It planned to use the funds to advance its international expansion and for further platform development. It also planned to establish itself as a partner for educational institutions in Europe. Additionally, the company stated that revenue had grown 300% YoY since its first Series A in March 2021.
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    Founded in 2016, BookNook is an online literacy platform designed for learners in grades 1-5. Partnering with school districts and non-profit organizations, the company focuses on human-to-human learning and works with children one-on-one or in small groups, enabling it to gather rich, observational data. As of June 2021, the company partnered with hundreds of schools, school districts, and non-profits across 35 states.
  </p>
  <p>
    BookNook differs from other digital literacy tools by not requiring students to take formative assessments to check for their understanding. Rather, the platform lets teachers record qualitative data on oral fluency, such as whether a student pauses at punctuation marks as they read aloud, or reads in set phrases. Students can also record self-reflections on the platform.
  </p>
  <p>
    In June 2021, the company partnered with MIND Research Institute, a neuroscience and education social impact organization and creator of the PreK-8 visual instructional program ST Math, to deliver a High Dosage Tutoring program (HDT) for math to K-8 students to address unfinished learning. BookNook tutors will deliver tutoring sessions using the ST Math program over BookNook’s synchronous learning platform. The company launched a new teacher application portal at booknooktutor.com in October 2021, giving experienced teachers the opportunity to apply to become BookNook virtual tutors on its platform. BookNook intends to engage 10,000 virtual teachers to support 80,000 students by the end of the 2021-2022 school year.
  </p>
</div>


BookNook

<div>
  <p>
    Story2 uses its proprietary Moments Method writing system, its StoryBuilder software, and live online group coaching to help high school students and professionals improve their writing, speaking, storytelling, and collaboration skills. 
  </p>
  <p>
    The company aims to help different segments with their specific needs: students with college admission and scholarship essays, professionals preparing for interviews and creating cover letters, and business teams to improve sales, recruiting and company messaging through effective storytelling.
  </p>
  <p>
    Since 2013, Story2 has worked with more than 200,000 individuals in 21 countries with college admission essays, interview preparation, and pitching ideas. The company is expanding into China and India in 2020 and plans to focus on helping science and technology students improve their communication and leadership skills.
  </p>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


Story2

<div>
  <p>
    Vooks offers a subscription-based, ad-free curated library of children's books converted to video with narration and some slow-paced animation, allowing children to read along while watching. Aimed at young children aged 6 months to 8 years, Vooks promotes reading aloud to develop fluency and comprehension. The company was founded by siblings Marshall Bex and Shannon Bex, and Russell Hirtzel, and is reportedly the first-ever streaming service for books with illustrations, read-along text and animations.
  </p>
  <p>
    In February 2020, Vooks raised USD 12 million in Series A funding; however, the investors and purpose of the funding were not disclosed. In November 2020, the company raised USD 21.9 million in equity investments from more than 30 investors.
  </p>
  <p>
    In November 2020, Vooks partnered with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas (UWMD), a community-based, nonprofit social change organization, and Atmos Energy, a natural gas distributor, to provide around 78,000 one-year Vooks subscriptions for children aged 3 to 6 and early education teachers in the Greater Dallas area. The program is funded by a USD 1 million contribution from Atmos Energy, and contributes to UWMD’s Aspire United 2030 education goal of increasing the number of North Texas students reading at grade level by third grade by 50%. Similarly, in March 2021, the company partnered with Reach Out and Read Of Greater New York (ROR GNY), a nonprofit organization of healthcare providers who promote early literacy. The partnership aims to provide more than 75,000 preschool children with one-year Vooks subscriptions starting in March 2021.
  </p>
  <p>
    In July 2021, it was reported that Vooks is offering its service to authors and producers as a way of quickly testing ideas with audiences through simple animated shorts. Thereby, Vooks expands its library of original content while authors and producers get real-time performance data.
  </p>
</div>


Vooks

<div>
  <p>
    Xeropan offers an AI-powered, game-based approach to learning English through 14 of the most widely-spoken languages. As of October 2020, the app had more than one million players.
  </p>
</div>


Xeropan

<div>
  <p>
    GoGuardian is a provider of student security software solutions to help educators identify learning patterns, protect students from harmful and distracting content, and support students at risk of self-harm and suicide. As of August 2021, the company had partnered with more than 10,000 schools in the US, covering more than 22 million students.  
  </p>
  <p>
    In November 2020, GoGuardian announced a 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/1863">
      merger with Pear Deck
    </a>
     to deepen the support provided to students and teachers and improve their in-class experience. Founded in 2014, Pear Deck is a student engagement platform that allows teachers to create, edit, and launch multimedia content and formative assessments on students' devices to increase student engagement. At the time of the merger, Pear Deck was used by 8 million educators and students in more than 17,000 schools worldwide. Pear Deck co-founder and Chief Educator, Michal Eynon-Lynch, will join the GoGuardian Board of Directors. In May 2022, the company acquired 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10683">
      <u>TutorMe,</u>
    </a>
     Zovio’s tutoring services business, for USD 55 million in cash to strengthen its product offering. 
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In August 2021, GoGuardian secured a USD 200 million investment from Tiger Global Management. The funds will be allocated for product innovation, talent acquisition, and business development. 
  </p>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


GoGuardian

Adaptive learning platforms, personalized learning plans, and AI-powered analytics provide insight into student performance

Learning platforms that promote an inclusive and equitable educational culture for underserved communities

Uses AI/ML to create personalized learning plans, adaptive learning platforms, and intelligent tutoring systems

Platforms providing student-parent-teacher-school communication and networking solutions, and those providing search, reference, and marketplace solutions.

Sdui

EdTech: K-12

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