The GSV Big 10: Kahoot, Kansas, and Kingmakers
Here's your weekly coverage corner for the top 10 stories, insights, and major plays in learning and skilling.
#1 Gamified e-learning platform Kahoot gets acquired in a $1.7B deal led by Goldman Sachs, Lego and more
Kahoot is used by 97% of the Fortune 500 and is the third coolest brand among young people in Western Europe, ahead of Apple, Coke, TikTok and Instagram. Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic, Kirkbi, and CEO Eilert Hanoa see an opportunity to leverage that brand equity into shareholders equity.
#2 Who’s Afraid of Moms for Liberty?
Moms for Liberty is already the most consequential education advocacy organization since Teach For America. In less than 3 years, the GOP kingmaker has grown to 120,000 members and nearly 300 chapters in 45 states.
#3 Americans' Confidence in Higher Education Down Sharply
Americans’ confidence in higher education has plummeted over 20% since 2015. Only 19% of Republicans have “a great deal” of confidence in higher education, down 56% since 2015. COVID unmasked the challenges facing Higher Ed…it’s time to build a better system for all.
#4 PODCAST: Rethinking Education in the Wake of the Pandemic: My Long-Read Q&A with Rick Hess | American Enterprise Institute
Skeptical of overhyped, one-size-fits-all solutions, Frederick Hess wants to rethink American schools – not reform or reset them. Only 20 or 25 percent of Americans think American education is heading in the right direction, but 75 percent of parents give their kids school an A or a B. Something doesn’t add up.
#5 VIDEO: Affirmative Action's Parasitic Elitism
“Only someone with a very constricted perspective on the purpose of higher education could believe that the millions of students who graduate from non-elite schools every year have, by virtue of that fact, limited options in life. And yet this claim, absurd on its face, is precisely what we’re being asked to believe when race-based affirmative action is treated as a matter of life or death.”
#6 Politicians Should Pay for Ignoring America’s Education Crisis
America’s education crisis is a five-alarm fire, but most elected officials aren’t responding (or even discussing it). Neither removing books from libraries nor throwing at the money will do anything to solve the problem. What will help is reinstilling a culture of leadership, accountability, and trust.
#7 With End of Affirmative Action, a Push for a New Tool: Adversity Scores
The best companies in the world hire using slope over y-intercept optimization…college admissions need to follow suit. UC Davis’ success with their socioeconomic disadvantage scale is a promising first step to change the reality that mostly rich kids get to go to medical school.
#8 PowerSchool to Acquire SchoolMessenger, a Leading Provider of K-12 Communication Tools in North America, Demonstrating Continued Commitment to Improving Student Outcomes
PowerSchool is acquiring SchoolMessenger, its 5th acquisition since going public mid-2021, for $300 million in cash. SchoolMessenger has almost 63,00 schools on its platform and facilitates critical family communication between schools, students, and parents.
#9 Nonprofit near Kansas City seeks to become ‘epicenter of the school-choice movement’
The Herzog Foundation launched in December 2020 with $325 million for its mission of catalyzing and accelerating the development of quality Christ-centered K-12 education so that families and culture flourish. It has its detractors, but it’s exciting to see capital with a cause.
#10 US Edtech Funding Dips to $2.2B in 1H 2023
M&A is Hot, VC Funding is Not. Excluding the two big raises (Cengage’s $500 million growth round and Amplify’s $350 million Series C), US Edtech funding is at $1.3B in 1H 2023…down 81% from 1H 2021, but still up 20% compared to 2019.