EdTech Briefing

50 early-stage edtech startups selected from 3,000+ nominations across five continents. Finalists will present at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego in April, where 7,000+ educators, investors, and tech leaders are expected. AWS is in its second year as sponsor, positioning itself as the infrastructure partner for early-stage edtech. Selection uses the "5 P's" framework: team, product-market fit, purpose, model, and long-term potential.

BusRight, a school bus routing, tracking, and safety platform for student transportation, raised $30M in venture funding led by Volition Capital. The unsexy infrastructure layer of K-12 — but real revenue and real adoption.

Market report projects 4.7x growth in LLM-based education tools over four years. Cloud solutions addressing infrastructure costs are a key enabler. South Korean edtech companies showing strong STEM performance benchmarks, outpacing models like Microsoft's ToRA 13B in math.

Brookings Institute study examines the tension: teachers fear students will use AI to cheat, yet teachers themselves are increasingly using AI to create lesson plans. The broader tech backlash from distance learning and smartphones is now extending to all classroom technology, including edtech. Data on AI's actual impact remains limited.

The American Federation of Teachers is partnering with AI developers to train 400,000 teachers on AI use in the classroom. Training sessions have begun at AFT headquarters in NYC. Signals a major shift from resistance to adoption among organized labor in education.

Lawmakers in 16 states are considering bills to restrict technology use in classrooms. The tech backlash sparked by distance learning and smartphones is now extending to all technology in schools — creating potential regulatory headwinds for edtech companies targeting K-12.

Karim Meghji appointed President and CEO of Code.org, with a mandate to integrate AI curriculum into K-12 education. The initiative aims to prepare students for an AI-driven workforce — a significant signal for the CS education vertical.

UNESCO's Global Skills Academy AI EmpowerED programme expanding into Malaysia, with continued partnership with CENIA on ethical AI in education for Chile and Latin America. International policy signals around AI governance in education are accelerating.

Turkish edtech company Doping Technology launched two global products at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego. Serves millions of learners across Turkey and now expanding internationally — a reminder that some of the largest edtech companies by user base are outside the US.