Private equity investment in Europe’s edtech space has reached €3.4 billion (about $3.7 billion) this year, surpassing 2023’s total, as demand for hybrid learning continues to grow.
At the current pace of investment, the edtech industry vertical—which encompasses educational software and hardware—is on course to attract as much as €4.4 billion by the end of the year. However, investment still tracks below 2021’s peak of €6.7 billion.
This year’s largest deal was EQT‘s €2.2 billion acquisition of Spanish private university platform Universidad Europea in April—an investment partly focused on growing the company’s online offering.
In a statement, EQT noted how expanding access to higher education is becoming a priority for governments worldwide, including Spain.
Other firms like BD-Capital, on the other hand, are targeting the B2B edtech space. The firm bought into Netex Learning, a cloud-based learning management system catering to large and medium-sized corporates, also based in Spain, for €72.5 million in May.
Earlier in the year, Verdane bought into Pflegecampus21, an Berlin-based online learning platform specifically for the nursing industry, for €90 million in January.
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