The EdSheet Vol. 25

This newsletter covers the business side of the education industry - venture funding, M&A, other financial transactions. Whiteboard Advisors also publishes a daily newsletter - What We’re Reading - of curated, industry-focused news clips and a weekly newsletter - Whiteboard Notes - which covers policy, industry trends, and insights from W/A CEO Ben Wallerstein.

Hello! 

Mariah Carey is on the radio and playing in the Tower household, which means I am putting together my 5th annual education industry year-in-review (2021 part 1 & 2, 2022, 2023, and 2024). I’d love your input on this essay - please feel free to send your reflections on the past 12 months by hitting reply and/or filling out this 2025 end-of-year survey.

The EdTechnical team, led by Libby Hills, would also like to hear from you! They are hosting their first annual forecasting competition, soliciting ideas on the impact AI will have on education by 2028. They are offering up to $2,500 in cash for the best submissions. I will be submitting and hope you do too. The deadline is 12/16 and more information about the competition can be found here.

Looking forward to hearing from you, onto the news!

Funding / M&A

Whiteboard Advisors not only provides policy and market-related diligence and advisory services, we track every financial transaction that happens in education — and keep a record of all deals that are publicly announced.

The following transactions caught our eye over the past few weeks. If you have a deal to announce, or would like access to the full transactions database, please reach out.

Venture Funding

• Tetr College of Business raises $17.5M / India, HED Degree Providers / Owl Ventures, Bertelsmann India Investments

• Miko raises $10.5M / India, Educational Toys / iHeartMedia

• Stickerbox raises $7M / US, Educational Toys / Maveron, Serena Ventures, AI2 Incubator

• Filize raises €6M / France, HED Software Infrastructure / Hexa

• Find Your Grind raises $5M / US, Career Pathways / Echo Investment Capital, Gross Labs

  • For Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and/or 90s ska aficionados, you may also know the founder from the band Goldfinger

• Codeyoung raises $5M / India, Content Provider / 12 Flags Group, Enzia Venture 

• Guidoio raises €3.5M / Italy, Training Proivder (Driving School) / 360 Capital, Azimut Libera Impresa

• Muchbetter.ai raises €3M / France, Simulations (Sales Training) / Educapital, Astorya.vc

M&A

• Point Quest Group acquires LinkUp Teletherapy / US, Special Education (Mental Health)

• LearnUpon acquires Courseau / Ireland (Germany), Instructional Design 

• Lecturio acquires SimTutor / US, Simulations (Healthcare)

Buyouts

• Warburg Pincus acquires Raptor Technologies / US, School Safety Infrastructure

Funding Data

• Crunchbase: venture funding for EdTech trending flat for 2025

Join me for a discussion on policy to support work-based learning on December 10, 2025

Work-based learning (WBL) is a hot topic across much of the U.S., but legislative support varies widely by state. It is hard for policymakers, investors, and employers to keep track of what is working, where it is working, and who is driving progress in this area of workforce development.

In this conversation, Apprenticeship for America’s Senior Vice President Zach Boren, FAME USA’s National Director Tony Davis, Craft Education’s Head of Data & Research Patricia Saenz-Armstrong, and I will discuss effective state-level efforts to support WBL, industries that are dedicating resources to growth in WBL opportunities, and what the future of WBL looks like, among other topics.

News of Note

This section is intended to be more exploratory, a reflection of stories, ideas, and trends that I think are important for EdTech executives and investors to be aware of. 

Early Childhood

• Read. To. Your. Kids.

K12

• You probably read some of the discourse about America’s declining test scores this fall. My favorite take on this problem thus far: I don’t know what to think about America’s declining test scores and neither should you.

• The once and future classroom. A reminder that America’s public schools have a serious infrastructure problem.

• This problem is being exacerbated by public school enrollment declines (fewer student enrolled means fewer dollars to go around for facilities). Districts are now facing tough financial choices; Austin ISD is closing 10 schools amid enrollment challenges. 

• Further upsetting budgets, education funding is increasingly being used as a political football - at both the state and federal level. Even where funding remains “steady”, there is a significant overhead cost for school leaders who need to follow these events and try to manage their cashflow prudently.

• Not directly related to school finances, but very much related to the future of the American school, America’s children are unwell.

  • Fortunately, the kids might be turning a corner in mental health and researchers posit there is a new antidote for youth loneliness: complimenting one another. 

  • Additionally, the one common characteristic among high-performing public schools, no matter their student body demographics? Believing their students can succeed.

• A burgeoning industry for private equity capital: youth sports.

Higher Ed

• Trump administration revokes the accreditation of ~3,000 trucking schools and warns ~4,000 more (combined, 40% of all trucking schools), largely based on immigration concerns. Setting the immigration angle to the side, this is the first large-scale revocation of accreditation I’ve seen and would seem to imply major stroke-of-pen risk to the higher ed sector.

• Meet the millionaire masters of early decision at colleges. Headline is clickbait-y, but helpful overview of how sophisticated university enrollment management is getting. I’m not sure I buy the narrative that students are spurning the ivy league for SEC schools, but I do believe that many schools are rapidly reshaping the composition of their student populations with the help of these “millionaire masters.”

  • Related, The new must-have college admissions skill: tolerating other viewpoints.

Workforce

• Americans sour on the college degree right as employers start valuing it more, leaving workers without a degree in a lurch.

• Counterpoint: maybe the job market is just more employer-friendly right now? Young college graduates are taking longer to find jobs.

  • Perhaps surprisingly, China is also wrestling with this phenomenon - to the point that some college graduates in China are going back to school for vocational studies.

Other 

• Training for The Knowledge, the hardest driving test in the world. I usually take the side of progress when it comes to technology. I believe GPS (and, thus, on-demand driving directions, among other things) has made our lives better. But stories like this one, which details the lengths that thousands of taxi drivers in London have to go through to get licensed, help remind me of the human costs of this progress. 

• The Knowledge (which is worth a deep dive if you are unfamiliar with it) is also a reminder of the extraordinary deeds humans are capable of without digital help. It turns out these some of these cognitive feats - at least those in the spatial relations category - may also help stave off Alzheimer’s! A risk of cognitive convenience.

Looking for your next opportunity in education? Check out our W/A Jobs, which features 3,295 career opportunities from 312 organizations across the education industry. A few roles that we’re excited about from the past week:

• Pearson is hiring a remote Technical Product Manager to lead the design and development of a platform in their Assessments division

• Edpuzzle is hiring a Security Engineer in Spain to support the safeguarding of the team’s networks, systems, and products

• The Common App is hiring a Director of Government Relations and State Partnerships in Arlington Virginia to engage federal, state, and local government officials, policymakers, and key stakeholders

• BONUS JOB for the young people in your life: Roadtrip Nation is looking for 3 18+ year-olds to travel across the country (in a giant green RV) to learn how AI is being used in interesting and inspiring ways. Apply by 12/14

Whiteboard Advisors is the leading policy-related diligence partner for education investors, advising on most major private equity transactions in education over the past 15 years. Our specialty is translating complex policy dynamics into insights that inform decision-making. Reply to this email to learn more.