Top education startups and companies: where they stand now

The technological advancement of the last two decades has changed the way children and adults learn and acquire new skills. A variety of digital tools and platforms help people all over the world to get high-quality education in each and every industry sphere. The pandemic years pushed that shift much further, and the money followed: Rest of World puts the 2021 peak of global edtech investment at $16.7 billion, with just 645 new education companies started in 2025 against almost 10,500 in 2020.

Edtech startups are a driving force behind these changes. The business owners keep coming up with exciting ideas that make education accessible and involving. They create virtual labs, platforms enhanced with artificial intelligence features, VR simulators, self-learning courses, websites for tutors and teachers as well as fundraising sites. It seems that nowadays you can learn any new skills online. The funding behind them is far tighter than it was: HolonIQ counted $1 billion of edtech venture funding in the first half of 2026, 26% below the $1.35 billion recorded a year earlier, with the money moving towards workforce training and AI-native tools.

As this industry has so much potential, our team did its research and found out which edtech companies are shaping it. We rechecked every company on this list in September 2026, and seven of them are no longer what a startup list would suggest: four were acquired or taken private, one changed its name, one went through bankruptcy and back into independent hands, and one is a listed company that has cut close to half its staff as revenue fell. Each of those entries says where the company stands today, so you can read the product idea without inheriting a status that expired years ago.

1. Simply

   

   Founded: 2011

   Headquarters: Tel Aviv, Israel

   Investors: Aleph, Insight Partners, Google Ventures

   Simply is an education technology app built by JoyTunes, the Israeli company now named Simply Ltd. The Simply app allows users of all ages to learn to play musical instruments online. After joining Simply, they can opt for one of the activities: playing either guitar or piano or singing. The app was created by a team of professional musicians, designers, data scientists, and software engineers. They invented an acoustic recognition engine and installed it in the app. So, the Simply application can listen to what a learner plays and sings, analyze this data, and give immediate feedback. The app users can buy a family subscription and give all family members an opportunity to engage in this interactive learning too.

   More than that, we think that Simply owns one of the top startup websites. The site UI is full of hand-drawn illustrations and live videos that make it look friendly and provide users with an engaging learning experience.

2. Labster

   

   Founded: 2011

   Headquarters: Boston, United States (founded in Denmark, now remote-first)

   Investors: GGV Capital, Educapital, Owl Ventures

   Labster is a science education company that gives students an opportunity to perform scientific experiments in a virtual 3D laboratory. This educational technology startup provides users with virtual labs and simulators that help them act out actual scientific experiments in a safe environment. This edtech space brings several benefits to both students and their teachers. First of all, it helps users visualize complex theoretical concepts making them more enjoyable to study. Besides, Labster makes expensive equipment accessible. And what is more important, students can study the safety protocols and lab procedures before entering a real laboratory. The teachers are provided with dashboards that can be used for tracking students' results. To provide better student engagement, Labster created multiple language versions of the service. Also, the service is adapted to hearing and eyesight-impaired users. In the end, Labster education technology startup has created a great online learning tool that can stimulate the kids' interest in physics and chemistry, which is why it can be called one of the top tech startups to watch.

   

   

   

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3. Photomath

   

   Founded: 2014

   Headquarters: San Mateo, United States

   Investors: GSV Ventures, Cherubic Ventures, Learn Capital

   Where it stands in 2026: Photomath is no longer an independent startup. Google announced the acquisition in 2022, the European Commission cleared the deal in March 2023, and the app now ships as a Google product.

   Photomath is one of the best-known apps that help kids and teenagers study math. Whenever facing a tricky math task, users just need to scan it, and the app helps to solve it. The provided solution is accompanied by a step-by-step explanation aimed at helping the students crack similar tasks in the future. Students of any grade may find the app especially useful as it covers the whole curriculum — from elementary math to algebra and trigonometry. The idea hit the founder when he was struggling to help his children with their homework, so he decided to engage in app development and came up with an artificial intelligence solution that now helps millions of kids and their parents.

   

   

   

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4. Mursion

   

   Founded: 2014

   Headquarters: San Francisco, United States

   Investors: Leeds Illuminate, Figure 8 Investments, New Markets Venture Partners

   Mursion is another technology startup worth watching. While many of us think that VR is a tool for gaming or other forms of entertainment, some online education companies have turned it into an irreplaceable professional online learning tool. Mursion provides professionals with a virtual reality simulator where they can improve their soft skills. This AI-assisted platform is used by a wide range of organizations in the fields of education, healthcare, finance, HR, and many others. The platform uses a combination of artificial intelligence and real actors who simulate challenging interpersonal situations that professionals can meet in their everyday life. During role-plays, employees learn to cope with emotionally charged situations and improve their leadership skills using flexible and user-friendly online learning software.

5. Element451

   

   Founded: 2017

   Headquarters: Raleigh, United States

   Investors: PSG Equity

   Element451 is an educational technology startup that is changing the way colleges and universities connect with their students. It uses AI to help schools manage everything from recruiting new students to keeping in touch with graduates. Element451's software makes it easier for schools to handle applications, personalize communication, and support student success by centralizing student information into one easy-to-use platform. After a $175 million round from growth equity firm PSG in December 2024, the company aims to help more schools reduce the workload for staff and focus on building strong relationships with students.

   The platform includes smart features like the Element Discover search engine, which allows students to get answers to their questions quickly, and BoltBot, an assistant that helps with tasks like event registrations. For school staff, Element451 automates routine tasks, freeing up time for important activities like helping students succeed and planning strategies. Element451 now says more than 350 higher education institutions use the platform.

6. Immerse

   

   Founded: 2017

   Headquarters: San Francisco, United States

   Investors: Eagle Venture Fund

   Immerse is another digital education company that allows students to use VR technology for studying. In this case, virtual reality is used to make language learning a more immersive and engaging process. The creator of this educational technology startup used to be a volunteer in refugee camps located in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. During that time he faced a language barrier and had to learn Arabic — one of the most complicated languages on the globe. Thanks to this experience, he realized that language immersion is the key to fluency. That's why he decided to engage in web app development and create an online learning platform where students can fully immerse themselves in the process of learning languages. When students use the platform, they can create and customize their own avatars, choose locations, and get rewards for passing the levels.

   The VR allows them to interact with virtual objects, play interactive games, attend virtual events, and act out real-life conversations with their peers and teachers. This highly interactive environment fosters student engagement and interest. Right now only Spanish VR simulations are available but other languages are to be added to the platform soon. This new startup company keeps developing its digital product, and we believe it will become one of the best startups for language learning in the near future.

7. Codeyoung

   

   Founded: 2018

   Headquarters: Bangalore, India

   Investors: Guild Capital

   Codeyoung is one of the hottest new startups that attracted its first clients in 2020. Codeyoung is a coding platform for interactive learning targeted at children of 5–17 years. The main goal of this educational technology startup is to provide kids with an interactive and exciting learning experience that allows them to get a job in the future. The courses are tailored for children of various age groups. This e-learning company not only provides its students with cool educational materials but also holds IT events like hackathons. Interactive lessons help younger students study block-based programming, while the older students learn to use coding languages, create interactive websites, and try app development. While studying, they create complex products like games, corporate sites, and apps. The platform users get rewards for their achievements.

8. MasterClass

   

   Founded: 2015

   Headquarters: San Francisco, United States

   Investors: Vershina Capital, Empede Capital, UTA Ventures

   Not all kids want to dive deep into math, coding, or science. Some are searching for a way to express their creative side. MasterClass is an education technology startup that connects students to an online streaming platform where they can learn from world-leading specialists. The online classes are dedicated to cooking, design and style, sports and gaming, writing, filmmaking, and other crafts. Each class consists of twenty 10-minute video lessons that students can watch one at a time or all at once. All the videos feature close-ups, hands-on demonstrations, and cinematic demonstrations that allow students to study topics as thoroughly as possible and receive an immersive learning experience. Moreover, the lessons are supported by workbooks aimed to help students sharpen their skills. The lessons are recorded by iconic artists, chefs, and producers like Gordon Ramsey, Duffer Brothers, and Kris Jenner. The platform materials can be accessed through smartphones, personal computers, or Apple TV which enhances student engagement.

9. Edexia

   

   Founded: 2023

   Headquarters: Brisbane, Australia

   Investors: Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund, 77 Partners

   Edexia is a new educational technology startup using artificial intelligence to help teachers with assessments, grading, and feedback. The goal is to make the AI feel like a helpful colleague, allowing educators to give personalized feedback to students while saving time. Based in Brisbane, Edexia works with schools in Australia, including well-known ones like Ipswich Girls Grammar and Brisbane Grammar.

   Edexia joined Y Combinator, a top Silicon Valley startup accelerator, receiving $500,000 to help grow the business. Founders Daniel Gibbon and Nathan Wang chose this opportunity over larger financial offers to better develop their company and themselves. Currently, Edexia serves 12 schools in Queensland and plans to expand. Their AI tool is designed to learn how teachers think, providing useful insights for grading and feedback. The founders are focused on improving their product by listening to feedback from schools, aiming to make a positive impact in classrooms around the world.

   

   

   

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10. NeighborSchools

    

    Founded: 2018

    Headquarters: Boston, United States

    Investors: Hannah Grey, Metrodora Ventures, Accomplice

    Where it stands in 2026: NeighborSchools has been acquired by Higher Ground Education, and neighborschools.com no longer serves a website. The company below is described as it operated while it was independent.

    NeighborSchools was a US education technology startup whose mission was to inspire caregivers to create new independent daycares and provide kids around the US with affordable child care. Unfortunately, not all daycares provide high-quality services and pay fair salaries to childcare professionals. NeighborSchools aims to give child care providers an opportunity to go independent and open home-based daycares within their community. Its founders believed that caring for children is an important job and that caregivers deserve bigger salaries, which makes NeighborSchools one of the best education companies to work for. To enter the program, parents need to go through a short survey, and after that, the platform finds a caregiver who matches the family's needs. Thus, the startup brings benefits to all its counterparts: Childcare providers get higher wages, parents receive the help they need, and children get personalized care from professional caregivers.

11. Teachers Pay Teachers

    

    Founded: 2006

    Headquarters: New York, United States

    Investors: Tiger Global Management, Spectrum Equity, True Ventures

    Where it stands in 2026: the marketplace still runs, but it is not an independent startup: IXL Learning acquired Teachers Pay Teachers in March 2023.

    Teachers Pay Teachers is one of the education technology platforms most used by teachers and tutors. It is a marketplace for educational resources like lesson plans, worksheets, presentations, and interactive digital resources. The company was founded by a New York teacher Paul Edelman who always struggled to find the needed educational materials for the lessons, so he came up with an idea of an online learning website where teachers, tutors, and parents could share the educational content they create. Thus kids' learning experience can be enhanced with the most up-to-date materials, while teachers could save time on their lesson preparation routine. At first, it was just a website for exchanging lesson plans but later the idea turned into a powerful tool. IXL's acquisition announcement says the platform reaches more than 7 million educators, including 85% of PK-12 teachers in the United States (IXL Learning, March 2023).

12. Chegg

    

    Founded: 2005

    Headquarters: Santa Clara, United States

    Investors: PAR Capital Management, Kleiner Perkins, Employee Stock Option Fund

    Where it stands in 2026: Chegg names Google's AI summaries as the reason its traffic dropped sharply. It cut 388 jobs, about 45% of its workforce, in October 2025, with second-quarter revenue down by more than a third to $105.1 million.

    Chegg is a public edtech company that gives students access to an online learning platform with a wide variety of tools. The mission of the platform is to make higher education more affordable and accessible as well as to improve study outcomes. Chegg helps students in debt to ease their financial burden allowing them to exchange, buy, or sell expensive used educational materials. Also, the platform provides the students with access to writing tools and math help. All the platform subscribers can take advantage of free online tutoring and use career search to obtain the job of their dream. This set of tools is available online at any time of the day and night. Although the headquarters of the company is located in the United States, the international offices are spread all around the world so as many students as possible can get outstanding learning experiences.

13. GoStudent

    

    Founded: 2016

    Headquarters: Vienna, Austria

    Investors: Left Lane Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund, Tencent

    GoStudent is a tutoring startup that helps students and private tutors connect with each other. GoStudent revolutionizes the way the tutoring market is functioning. It is an application enhanced with artificial intelligence features that helps students find tutors that match their needs. All the processes like rescheduling, finding available sessions, replacing tutors, and payment, are automated, so the platform users can enjoy a seamless and personalized learning experience. GoStudent analyzes the needs of the students and finds the tutors that match them. Students can connect to their tutors, get help in cases of uncertainty, receive feedback, and get answers to their questions. The studying happens in the form of private 50-minute lessons. The startup owners believe that all kids are different and need different teaching approaches, so they are provided with adaptive and interactive learning plans. The platform is extremely flexible, so GoStudent can be called an adaptive startup. GoStudent's own site no longer has a US version, and its old US address now redirects to the UK one.

14. GoPractice

    

    Founded: 2013

    Headquarters: San Francisco, United States

    Investors: Undisclosed

    GoPractice is an online learning platform that specializes in startup training. It doesn't offer a lot of courses as other edtech companies do. This startup is targeted at providing digital specialists with immersive and interactive learning experiences. Instead, the e-learning platform provides product managers, designers, and data scientists with courses that help them to build and scale successful products. It has its own ecosystem of products that help both junior and senior specialists with career growth. The GoPractice team believes in a data-driven approach and aims to help professionals understand how to make informed product decisions. Another useful option is a skill assessment test that helps professionals estimate their professional level and create an individual development plan to provide each user with personalized learning experience.

15. Kahoot

    

    Founded: 2012

    Headquarters: Oslo, Norway

    Investors: Stefan Blom, SoftBank, Microsoft's Venture Fund

    Where it stands in 2026: Kahoot is privately held and no longer a listed company. A consortium led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management made a voluntary offer for all shares, and that offer was accepted by 84% of shareholders in November 2023. After a follow-up mandatory offer of NOK 35 per share, Oslo Børs delisted the shares of Kahoot! ASA as of 23 January 2024.

    Kahoot is a global education software company that aims to make the learning experience more engaging, letting people learn without even realizing it. The platform allows users to create their own learning games and quizzes. With the help of the platform, users can turn school lessons and professional meetings into mini quiz shows. The quizzes on any topic can be created within a few minutes. All quizzes can be displayed on both small and big screens which makes it easier to play with the others and ensures interactive learning. Kahoot can also be used as an assessment tool. The reports that become available after each game can be used to estimate the knowledge and skills of the players. Kahoot is used for studying in more than 200 countries which proves that games are still a great online learning tool.

16. Osmo

    

    Founded: 2013

    Headquarters: Palo Alto, United States

    Where it stands in 2026: BYJU'S acquired Osmo in 2019, and when BYJU'S collapsed the Osmo apps stopped working in 2024. In late 2025 a self-funded team of former Osmo employees bought the brand out of bankruptcy and is bringing the apps back one at a time, so Osmo is independent again under new owners (Play Osmo status page, updated July 2026).

    Osmo is a startup that's changing how kids learn by making education fun and interactive. Using augmented reality (AR), Osmo creates educational games that teach important skills like critical thinking, communication, and teamwork. Founded in 2013 by Pramod Sharma and Jerome Scholler, Osmo's goal is to inspire kids while making sure technology doesn't take away from hands-on play. Their products, which include special letters, pens, and play cards, make learning exciting by bringing games to life in the classroom.

    Osmo has been recognized with several awards, such as being named one of Time Magazine's Best Inventions and winning honors like the Parent's Choice award. The new owners say tens of thousands of kids are playing every month as each game comes back.

17. Riiid (now Socra AI)

    

    Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea

    Where it stands in 2026: the company announced on 30 September 2025 that it was changing its name from Riiid to Socra AI, and riiid.com now redirects to the Socra AI site. Santa continues under the new brand: the company launched a Santa TOEFL site in July 2025 as an official ETS partner, ahead of the TOEFL revision in January 2026.

    Riiid, now Socra AI, is a South Korean education company that incorporates AI-powered features to provide students with personalized learning experience. The Riiid's team engaged in mobile app development to make the platform accessible from numerous devices. The company was listed in the CB Insights AI 100 list that displays AI-based startups that redefined the standard in their industries. The Riiid provides its users with AI tutors who can teach, assess, and recommend learning paths. Riiid's flagship product, “Santa,” offers comprehensive support for standardized test preparations, covering exams like TOEIC, SAT, and more. The AI tutor meticulously tracks a student's progress, adapts to their learning needs, and provides precise feedback to enhance their educational journey. The platform's ability to tailor learning experiences to individual needs sets it apart fosters student engagement and makes the studying highly effective.

Do you have an edtech startup idea?

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