What’s up with edtech?

More: An edtech startup received $2.2b in funding this week [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} Online classes: yay, or nay? Honestly, they’re not for me. How do you pay attention when FarmVille - a popular game on Facebook in 2010, when I was still in school -is just a click away? But that doesn’t change the fact that in 2020, education tech has become a hit industry. And this week, it’s also the vertical that has [raised the most money](. Want to know more about edtech? We lay out some resources you may need to keep track of all the trends and movements in this industry.  1️⃣ How edtech will differ from the past Parents are making [more active decisions]( in their children’s education, with 51% spending more money on internet-based learning resources such as virtual tutors and e-learning platforms subscriptions. Even half of YouTube’s users are there for learning purposes, and a third of parents give their children the go-ahead to watch YouTube regularly.  2️⃣ Opportunities and challenges in Indonesia The archipelago offers a large addressable market and big problems for edtech startups to solve. Indonesia also has 50 million students aged 5 to 18 years old, prompting many startups like Zenius and LingoAce to target this K12 population. [Opportunities]( in the adult and vocational training segments are available as well. However, edtech startups will first need to overcome [hurdles]( like customers’ limited ability to pay, inadequate digital infrastructure, and a shortage of qualified talent.  3️⃣ Vietnam is seeking its next edtech breakthrough The country has about 16 million students in primary and secondary levels as well as another 1.7 million studying at universities. But besides Topica, Vietnam’s leading edtech startup that bagged US$50 million in 2018, no one else has come close. Furthermore, Topica’s reported layoffs and leadership changes this year may indicate that it’s [not so easy for startups]( to crack the country’s edtech sector despite its lucrative potential.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  FUNDING NEWS  The biggest deals by country 🇨🇳 [Yuanfudao]( The Chinese online education platform that helps students to prepare for exams bagged US$2.2 billion from Citic PE, DCP Capital, DST Global, Danhe Capital, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, Greenwoods Investment, Ocean Link, Temasek Holdings, and TrustBridge Partners. 🇮🇳 [Zomato]( The India-based restaurant search and discovery app secured US$52 million from Kora Capital. 🇰🇷 [Socar]( The South Korean eco-friendly car sharing community platform, which allows travelers to share rides with others who are traveling the same route, received US$48 million from SG Private Equity and Songhyun Investment. 🇮🇱 [Syte]( The Israeli visual AI-powered platform that helps users discover products raised US$30 million from AxessVentures, Commerce Ventures, KDC Media Fund, Kreos Capital, LG Technology Ventures, Magma Venture Partners, MizMaa Ventures, NAVER, Remagine Ventures, Storm Ventures, and Viola Ventures. 🇯🇵 [Japan Data Science Consortium (JDSC)]( The Japanese AI company bagged US$27 million from Chubu Electric Power, Daikin, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Mizuho Capital, Resona Bank, SMBC Venture Capital, Sparks Asset Management Mirai Creation Fund, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and The University of Tokyo Edge Capital. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [118 deals worth over US$3.1 billion this week](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ The pitch deck that helped TransferWise secure seed funding The London-based fintech startup used [this pitch deck]( to secure US$1.3 million in funding in 2012. TransferWise says that as of March, it’s been handling roughly US$5 billion in cross-border transfers every month for its over 7 million users.  2️⃣ This startup caught Google’s eye via this deck Established in 2012, India’s Fynd is a shopping app dedicated to clothing and accessories. The online-to-offline platform secured a series C investment in 2018 from Google and other backers with [this pitch deck](.  3️⃣ Securing US$50 million with this series A pitch deck Singapore-based insurance startup Singlife created [this deck]( in September 2014. The company has revamped the deck over the years and finally closed US$50 million in funding in 2017.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EXCLUSIVE LISTICLES  Lists of most active investors in the region [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Japan]( | [Singapore](  List of top-funded startups in Asia [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Japan]( | [Hong Kong]( | [Singapore]( | [Vietnam](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THOUGHTFUL READS 1️⃣ Founder-led firms are winning in market recovery According to [this article]( technology companies led by their founders are doing much better than firms led by hired managers in terms of share prices and profit growth.  2️⃣ Bill Gurley backs those without office The man who has invested in the likes of Uber and Zillow is now [investing in startups]( without physical offices. This is the first time that Silicon Valley venture capital Benchmark - where Gurley is a long-time investor - is doing something like this, but he believes that remote working has its advantages.  3️⃣ Why doesn’t your board have a data integrity committee? Companies collect a ton of data. But more often than not, firms don’t know how to safeguard them properly. For every data security breach that occurs, US companies spend US$8.64 million on average, according to Ponemon Institute and IBM. So this [article suggests]( that a data integrity committee be implemented on corporate boards to ensure that operational data is accurate, complete, and secure.  4️⃣ Backed by research: Underpromise and overdeliver Virtual queues are everywhere these days, whether you’re booking a ride, ordering food or asking to speak to a customer service. [Researchers found]( that when people waited less than the estimated duration, there was a small positive impact on the customer experience. And overall, the penalty for making the customer wait longer than expected was up to seven times larger than the reward for overdelivery.  --------------------------------------------------------------- Did these eye-popping figures shock you? Share this with a friend who would enjoy this week’s funding news as much as you do. If you liked today’s edition, give us some feedback [here](. Tech in Asia’s newsletters are handcrafted daily with love - and sometimes powered by good coffee. Today’s edition was written by Betty Chum. It’s edited by Eileen C. Ang. To ensure that you don’t miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis, add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Don't want to receive these emails anymore? [Unsubscribe](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Copyright © 2020 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 51 Bras Basah Rd, #05-5061, Singapore 189554