EdTech has already been enjoying a big year in venture investing, and the past week has been no exception. Education was one of the most active investment categories this week, with a 300% increase in the number of funding rounds.

On Thursday, the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator announced its 2014 cohort with a class of 12 startups receiving a $20k seed investment. Internationally, ABA English of Barcelona raised $3.4M from Nauta Capital and Taamkru of Thailand raised a seed round led by 500 Startups.

Although Software again led all categories by number of investments, the total this week is still 42% less than a week ago as major VC’s appear to be starting their summer vacations. Apart from Education, only Advertising investments made a significant increase this week, led by a $12M Series B for SmartZip Analytics. Cleantech had a modest 20% improvement as Green Charge and Data Driven Delivery Systems raised a combined total of $116.8M during the week.

E-Commerce slid significantly this week by only registering six rounds, yet it still led all categories by total investment thanks to Flipkart’s $1B Series G. Finance and Financial Services startups also made waves with over $140M in funding this week. The Series C rounds for Avant Credit ($75M) and Beijing’s Rong360 ($60M) were major commitments from familiar names. Tiger Global was the sole backer for AvantCredit and Sequoia, Lightspeed and Pavillion Capital thought the price was right for Rong360.

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Photo via Flickr user nniknak

  • Originally published July 30, 2014, updated April 26, 2023