📈 $2.6B in EdTech for 2025. AI in the workflow, skills in the spotlight. 2026: agentic, embedded, and iterative.
Workforce captures nearly half of the $2.6B in EdTech venture funding in 2025. Don't miss Global Skills Week in Washington DC this March.
Hello 👋
$2.6B in EdTech venture investment signals a market that is cautious of hype cycles and an industry ready for results. Capital is concentrating where schools, universities, and employers are already changing practice: AI integrated into core systems, workflow-embedded learning, and platforms directly tied to employability. Durable, AI and career-connected skills matter, and funding the infrastructure required to articulate them at scale in post-secondary and workforce contexts is expected throughout 2026.
What this means for workforce & post-secondary innovators
- 🤖 AI moving inside institutional workflows. Funding is concentrating around systems architecture, knowledge, assessment, and operations solutions with agentic AI embedded directly in daily work.
- 🎓 Higher education systems investment remains steady. Navigation, finance, engagement, and student success solutions are drawing capital as institutions manage enrollment and cost pressure.
- 🧩 Employability and skills intelligence at the center. Platforms that map skills, align learning to work, and support internal mobility continue to attract disciplined investment.
- 🏥 Workforce and up-skilling remain the largest opportunity space. Particularly healthcare, cybersecurity, and job-aligned training where shortages and credentials create immediate demand.
👉 Read the open-access investment analysis.
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📣 Global Skills Week
Mar 25-26, 2026
Convene Hamilton Square, 600 14th St NW, Washington, D.C.
Register Today for Early Bird Pricing!
Global Skills Week 2026 convenes the world’s leading skills-focused voices from industry, post-secondary institutions and business schools, alongside senior policy-makers and economic development and technology leaders. The week examines how education providers and employers are responding to shifting workforce demands and where critical capability gaps persist.
Interested in joining Global Skills Week 2026 as a strategic partner or sponsor? Contact bethany.hogan@qs.com
⭐ AI & Digital Innovation Spotlight
֎ Anthropic and global network Teach For All launched a worldwide AI training initiative, giving more than 100,000 teachers and alumni access to the AI Literacy and Creator Collective to develop AI fluency and adapt Claude for classroom use across 63 countries.
💡 Google and Khan Academy have partnered to integrate Gemini AI models into new educational tools, starting with a Writing Coach for US grades 5–12 that guides students through essay writing without generating full text, and planning a Reading Coach later in 2026.
✨ OpenAI announced the Education for Countries initiative to work with governments, universities, and partners to integrate AI tools like ChatGPT Edu into national education systems globally.
🤝 Policy & Partnerships
♾️ The U.S. House passed the AI‑WISE Act to develop an AI roadmap for small agencies and enterprises that includes educational resources, online learning modules and guidance on evaluating and adopting AI tools.
🎓 India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship signed an MoU with the World Economic Forum to launch a Skills Accelerator intended to bridge critical workforce skills gaps by aligning vocational and technical training with evolving industry demand.
🤖 Udemy and Entri announced a partnership to expand career‑ready upskilling across India by combining Udemy’s course platform with Entri’s regional language job training programs, enabling access to technical and soft skills training.
💪 Power Moves & Funding
🚀 Emversity raised $30M to deepen its presence in healthcare and hospitality skilling programs, while expanding into infrastructure-led engineering, procurement & construction (EPC), and manufacturing.
🧠 Preply, a Spanish language learning solution, raised $150M to expand its language learning platform, develop AI tools, and scale global operations connecting tutors and learners.
💡 Sparkli, a Zurich‑based learning platform, raised $5M to develop an AI‑powered multimodal interactive learning platform, real‑time learning experiences for ages 5–12.
🚗 BRUM, an Italian platform for driving training, closed $5.8M to expand its digital platform for driver instruction, integrate AI-equipped vehicles, grow its network and open driving schools.
