š£ Brighteye Q1 2020 Update
Hi folks,
We extend virtual elbow bumps to everyone and we hope you are all keeping safe and healthy at home.
From our respective homes, we are happy to share an update for Q1 2020, which as you can imagine has been very unusual for everybody.
Before you jump in, we have a special request for all the EdTech entrepreneurs reading our newsletter š. Because we care about the EdTech ecosystem, we would love to get your insights on the COVID-19 situation in a short poll (7 questions in less than 1 min). Results will be published next week.
š¬Ā COVID-19 MESSAGE FROM BRIGHTEYE PARTNERS
Brighteye is an investment company focused on startups that enhance learning, but we are also a team of people affected by COVID-19. Like everyone else, we are worried about family, friends and colleagues. We hope that the crisis is short-lived and that you all stay safe and have access to the resources you need in the interim.
That said, as professionals investing in education, what the pandemic highlights for us is first and foremost the palpable demand for educationĀ to persist through crises, to instruct and safeguard young people, to enable adults to reskill/upskill in the face of economic and social turmoil and to feed our innate curiosity. While imperfect, education is the best way we have to match potential with opportunity at scale. Peopleās need to learn is neither transient nor discretionary, education is necessary for society to function.Ā
Itās no surprise then that withĀ over 1.5 billion school and university students (90% of worldwide total) impacted by school closures, students, parents and educational institutions havenāt shut down but rather embarked on distance learning at an unprecedented scale. Frankly, while Brighteye has long advocated for greater adoption of tech-enabled learning solutions, we scarcely imagined the size of the move that we are seeing in theĀ UK,Ā France,Ā Europe,Ā the US,Ā IndiaĀ andĀ throughout East Asia.
Post-crisis, the long term benefit to all EdTechĀ companies and learners are clear. Companies that provide or enhance online and at-home educational experiences are growing fast. People are discovering these solutions in large numbers, particularly as many have created free offerings, and customer volume for some has doubled or tripled in a matter of weeks. Ā While online education is not for everyone (early resultsĀ are mixed) confinement is increasing broadband/device penetration for school children in Europe daily (US is already over 98%) opening the market for EdTech in schools going forward. Similarly, broader awareness of tech enabled learning tools will drive increased adoption writ large as consumers and businesses look to enhance skills through the coming recession and recovery. Ā
But some EdTech companies will see disruption in the short term, indeedĀ a recent HolonIQ PollĀ found nearly half of EdTech companies expect Covid-19 to negatively impact their business. Ā For corporate learning solutions built to cultivate and attract talent in a strong labor market, a steep recession will depress demand, as even forward-thinking corporations will be resource constrained. For EdTech companies delivering offline services confinement means lost revenues even as they expand online offerings. And all startups are facing a more cash constrained environment from investors.
At Brighteye, we have consciously built a portfolio that spans the breadth of learning technology. We have checked in with all of them over the last weeks and learned the positive and negative impact of the current disruption. At their core, the companies we invest in seek to add value to the learning experience by being cheaper, more engaging, more relevant and/or more efficient than traditional offerings. Any companies adding value on these dimensions that can manage their cash well over the coming months should be well positioned for the changes to come.Ā Ā Ā
- Alex Spiro & Ben Wirz, Partners
šĀ SELECTED PORTFOLIO UPDATES
Ironhack successfully launched its online live course for web development bootcamp, and they also released its first audited outcome report showing 90% placement rate for students after 180 days of graduation.
Zen Educate: Slava Kremerman (CEO) shares his thoughts on how supply teaching is changing out of all recognition via TES.
Ornikar launch of Onroad in Spain šŖšø to list of developments.
Epic! has been included in America's best startup employers 2020 list by Forbes.
Litigate has been referred to, in Artificial Lawyer, as the āOperating System for the Litigation Processā.
Unistellar featured in TechCrunchās latest article on smart telescope startups.
Surrogate.tv: Stan Dmitriev (CMO) shared an insightful piece as a guest on Arduinoās blog on how they are creating an online robot fighting game using Arduino MKR1000 WiFi.
šāāļøĀ CURRENT OPEN ROLES @ PORTFOLIO COMPANIES
Our portfolio companies are recruiting. View current opportunities by clicking on links below:
šŖšŗ
Aula: Senior Software Engineer, Partner Success Associate
Ornikar: Senior Product Manager, Customer Success Manager, Software developers, etc.
FundamentalVR: Director of Sales, Marketing Manager, Head of Production, etc.
šŗšø
Epic!: Product/Growth Manager, Senior Data Analyst, User Research Lead, etc.
TeachFX: Software Engineer
š COVID19 Support:Ā Distance Learning ToolkitsĀ for š§ Children &Ā š Secondary Education
We have put together a brief list of 65+ tools for parents and students about which products align to which curricula and learning journey in different regions.
š¤ÆĀ MARKET INTELLIGENCE
What we have been reading/watching/listening to/thinking about lately:
šĀ Podcasts
Runway Series by Raphael Grieco
Metalearn by Nasos Papadopoulos
šĀ Books (not necessarily related to EdTech)
Classics: Zero to One: Notes on startups, or how to build the future - Peter Thiel
šĀ Reports/Articles
Surviving coronavirus by Angular Ventures
š SHARE THE BRIGHTEYE NEWSLETTER
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