Investors continue to put money to work behind efforts to fix K-12 education both inside and outside of schools. There are three principal drivers behind this activity: 1) fixing what COVID-19 mitigation policies broke; 2) improving COVID-19-revealed weaknesses inside public schools; 3) creating solutions to work around the public K-12 school system. All three avenues […]
Online language apps exploded in popularity during the pandemic, but maintaining that momentum could prove an ongoing challenge as consumers begin to tighten their belts. Since reaching its all-time trading high in September 2021, Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL) shares have declined more than 47%, despite demonstrating continued growth in paid subscribers suggesting investors may be nervous […]
Ufi Future of Work: Q3 Report 2022 Ufi Ventures and Tyton Partners are collaborating on an ongoing exploration of the opportunities for investors in the Future of Workforce Development. In this latest report, we assess the dynamics and activity within the VocTech market from July – September 2022. This report includes: Essential trends affecting […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Felix Ruano and his co-founder, Michael Vilardo, founded Subject in October 2020 to increase the availability of high-quality online […]
The challenges facing higher education are well understood: a demographic cliff of traditional-aged applicants, a declining proportion of full-pay families, and a growing skepticism of the value of (ever-more) expensive post-secondary degrees with resulting student consumerism. Add to this rapidly rising technological complexity, deferred maintenance on deteriorating physical assets, escalating administrative costs associated with student […]
There were fewer headline-grabbing deals announced in September, though the $121M transfer of Softbank’s stake in Kahoot! to General Atlantic was notable. While the transaction might say more about Softbank than Kahoot!, it does underscore the staying power of edtech that another large, global venture investor is entering the sector in such a meaningful manner. We are also pleased to highlight […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Noam Gerstein co-founded the bina School in 2021 as an international online primary school and kindergarten that enables children […]
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, October 26, 2022 – Today, Tyton Partners, in collaboration with the Walton Family Foundation and Stand Together Trust, released a new report, Choose to Learn 2022, that looks at data collected from more than 3,000 K-12 parents and more than 150 K-12 suppliers across all 50 states in the United States. The report […]
Our K-12 landscape map comes from our report, Choose to Learn 2022. It presents the network of education delivery sites and supporting “infrastructure” that comprise a child’s education and helps us imagine a more student-centric future. Across this map, there are a wide variety of in- and out-of-school experiences, as well as the community networks […]
Choose to Learn 2022: Connecting in- and out-of-school learning in a post-pandemic world Across K-12, families have theoretically always had choices: namely, where their child goes to school and how they spend their time outside of school. But these choices present too many compromises. Families value school—it can be cost-effective, convenient, credible—but they rarely depend […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Darren Catalano founded HelioCampus in 2015 to empower decision making at all levels of higher education. Darren Catalano started […]
With support from Stand Together Trust and the Walton Family Foundation, we published School Disrupted 2022, the second iteration in our ongoing series focused on K-12 enrollment trends. School Disrupted, a three-part publication, details how families are making post-pandemic educational decisions for their children and the impact on school enrollment patterns and parents’ future aspirations. This month, we recap […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Tracy Palandjian founded Social Finance in 2011 together with co-founders Sir Ronald Cohen, and David Blood driven by the […]
Last month, we launched the first in a three-part series titled “School Disrupted,” describing the ways in which the K-12 market has been fundamentally altered by pandemic mitigation measures. Our own survey of parents identified a 9% decline in families enrolling their children in traditional public schools versus the prior year. This migration away from traditional public-school […]
This panel features Andrea Mainelli (Tyton Partners), Beth Cobert (Markle Foundation), Yigal Kerzenbaum (ETF@JFFLabs), and Leila Makarechi (Merit America). We discuss the relevant insights about: How the public/private partnership are driving change in the future of work The challenges they’re facing in collaborating to drive scale How they are tackling some of the toughest issues […]
This is Part 3 of a three-part publication on K-12 enrollment trends by Tyton Partners supported by Stand Together Trust and the Walton Family Foundation. Our work draws on two nationally representative surveys of more than 6,000 K-12 parents conducted in May 2022. Part 1 of School Disrupted 2022 estimated that district public school enrollment […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Aaron Walker founded Camelback Ventures in 2015 in New Orleans, home of the first camelback-style homes whereby families of […]
This year, Tyton is publishing School Disrupted 2022 in collaboration with Stand Together Trust and the Walton Family Foundation. In this report, we have extended our work from School Disrupted 2021 to explore how families continue to navigate traditional and alternative school models. Drawing on two surveys of more than 6,000 K-12 parents, School Disrupted […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Myles Hunter co-founded TutorMe in 2015 along with USC classmate Alex Convery and technical co-founder Victor Kotseruba, with the […]
Tyton Partners launches a new report series in partnership with Stand Together Trust and the Walton Family Foundation on how the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to disrupt K-12 enrollment trends. BOSTON, September 20, 2022 Tyton Partners, the leading global investment banking and strategy consulting firm exclusively dedicated to the rapidly evolving Global Education Sector, has […]
This year, Tyton is publishing School Disrupted 2022 in collaboration with the Walton Family Foundation and Stand Together Trust. In this report, we have extended our work from School Disrupted 2021 to explore how families continue to navigate traditional and alternative school models. Drawing on two surveys of more than 6,000 K-12 parents, School Disrupted […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Madeline co-founded Matriculate in 2014 with a mission to empower high-achieving, low-income high school students to make the leap […]
In the face of declining undergraduate and graduate enrollment, taking a proactive approach to program portfolio planning is critical in order to align with changing regional workforce dynamics, ensure student success, and ultimately secure financial sustainability. According to National Clearinghouse data, there were 9.4% or 1.4 million fewer undergraduate students enrolled in higher education as […]
In June, we shared a strategic response to upskilling and reskilling in today’s uncertain labor market. To expand on this topic, below we explore why reskilling and upskilling are important tools for addressing employee retention. Organizational rationale for prioritizing skill building typically focuses on preparing employees for the “future of work”. Trends like automation and digitization […]
It’s an exciting and hopeful time of year, as millions of students return to school to continue their learning journey. While some students are chasing their last few days of summer vacation, others have already completed several homework assignments delivered through their school’s classroom learning platform. In fact, this year’s classroom learning platform may also […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Jackson Boyar co-founded Mentor Collective (formerly Shearwater) with James Lu Morrissey in 2015 with the mission of leveraging mentorship […]
Ufi Future of Work: Q2 Report 2022 Ufi Ventures and Tyton Partners are collaborating on an ongoing exploration of the opportunities for investors in the Future of Workforce Development. In this latest report, we assess the dynamics and activity within the VocTech market from April – June 2022. This report includes: Essential trends affecting the ecosystem […]
Experts are stumped. Even as GDP declines and some companies announce layoffs, the U.S. continues to add jobs, with many more positions left unfilled. Though edtech venture investing has visibly cooled, related M&A activity continues to be robust. This continues to hold true even as it begins to lean more heavily toward consolidation than the establishment of new platforms. […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Daphne Koller co-founded Coursera in 2012 with fellow Stanford Computer Science professor Andrew Ng with a mission to provide […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Peter Samuelson founded Ardeo with a mission to help loan repayment assistant programs (LRAPs) become more accessible to schools […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Ruben Harris, along with co-founders Artur and Timur Meyster, founded Career Karma in 2018 as a tool to help […]
Considered unrealistic a decade ago, investors today earn market-rate returns while producing measurable positive benefits for society. With the rise of sustainable investing and environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies in recent years, more investors seek to align their capital with their values. The growth has been astonishing. More than $17 trillion – or $1 […]
Given the size of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund – and its looming September 2024 deadline – the utilization and impact of these funds has been a point of national interest. One recent Wall Street Journal headline painted the picture of a K-12 sector unable to make use […]
Today, we published three reports which highlight how the higher education system misses the mark for students, especially those from historically under-represented groups and those with financial needs. Especially for Black, Latino, and Indigenous students and students with financial needs, the college experience continues to be a challenging one. Thanks to the participation of 7,400 […]
The developmental education reform movement is at a crossroads. While significant shifts in institutional and state policy have worked to dismantle the prior problematic approaches to developmental education, aggregate survey data from the past three years shows little change in self-reported awareness and adoption of key elements of the reform movement. Additionally, the fallout from […]
Since 2014, Tyton Partners has monitored the dynamics of the higher education instructional materials and digital learning market to understand the needs of instructors, institutions, and students and to monitor how suppliers are evolving to meet those needs. This 2022 summary provides an updated view of how the pandemic has altered the landscape of teaching, […]
Driving Towards a Degree is a research collaborative which helps institutions evolve their student supports. In this year’s research, we designed a methodology to measure progress towards equitable academic outcomes by race and ethnicity, represented by data on how the needs of Black, Latinx, Indigenous (BLI) groups, and students with financial needs differ from those […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Chip Paucek founded 2U with a mission to help colleges make high-quality online learning accessible, scalable, and sustainable. Chip […]
Ufi Future of Work: The Jobs Frontier 2022: Catalysing the Future of Workforce Development Ufi Ventures and Tyton Partners are collaborating on an ongoing exploration of the opportunities for investors in the Future of Workforce Development. In this annual report, we offer a review of the frameworks, trends, and analyses we work with for […]
Over the past two years, we have commented repeatedly on the enormous impact on education caused by various pandemic mitigation measures. School closures, lost socialization, and poorly executed remote instruction have disrupted learning progress for millions of students. Remediating the resulting shortfalls is likely to remain the major focus of K-12 public-school spending for years […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Matthew Pittinsky invested in Parchment in 2011 to solve problems he first experienced as a co-founder of Blackboard. Matt […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Tom Davidson co-founded EVERFI in 2008 with the belief that all students deserve to have equal access to critical […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Rachel founded Guild in 2015 based on a belief that there had to be a better way to connect […]
Founder’s Five is a continuing series from Tyton Partners that invites education company founders to shed light on their own success and illuminate the landscape for other education entrepreneurs and investors by answering five basic questions. Gregg launched CampusLogic in 2011 (his third start-up,) with the goal of transforming student financial aid from a series […]
Economic uncertainty has led some experts to warn that the hot job market may soon cool. However, the jury is still out as several bearish indicators (from the perspective of employees, who are at a job marketplace disadvantage should there be a recession and the labor market cools) are counterbalanced by those that are more […]
More times than we can count, we have heard university leaders say, “We don’t want to build a strategic plan that just sits on the shelf.” This sentiment underscores what has been a perennial weakness to the strategic planning process – lots of work goes into producing a document that contains aspirational statements and goals […]
As we exit the pandemic, workforce reskilling and upskilling sectors continue to see strong interest. Rapid dislocations in the labor market fueled by everything from emergent technologies to supply chain disruptions have created demand for skills instruction among both consumers and employers that is inspiring rapid innovation in both corporate and consumer training. For all […]
There is a crisis in U.S. schools: Teachers, the most important ingredient in a child’s learning,1 are demoralized. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, one in six K-12 teachers reported that they were likely to leave the profession. During the pandemic, this number increased to one in four.2 While many factors impact teachers’ experience and success in […]
At Tyton, we are now starting to think about the longer-term future in ways that we weren’t a year ago. And the next chapter for impact investment and venture philanthropy in our specialist areas of education and workforce looks fascinating and challenging. A key reason for looking ahead is that we are moving “from pandemic […]
The downward pressure on the labor force due to demographics, the pandemic, and lower rates of participation continues to force employers to streamline hiring processes and relax job requirements. This pressure is especially acute in talent-starved industries like information technology. These dynamics have given rise to companies using skills-based training and assessments or fostering partnerships […]
Investor interest in the education sector remains strong. While early indications for 2022 suggest that the power dynamic could be swinging back in the direction of buyers, macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty are not discouraging the volume of education deals coming to market. Areas of greatest interest currently are not surprising and include early childhood and […]
Despite the occasional stalwart holdout, the consensus among most higher education stakeholders is that colleges must deliver a labor market return that justifies the rising cost of attendance and often the high degree of indebtedness incurred by students and their families. For more than 50 years, the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) has surveyed […]
