Venture capitalists chat edtech’s new normal after COVID-19

There’s no doubt that the coronavirus has had a monumental impact on the way we view technology’s relationship with education. For now, students are learning from home. But what happens when they return to school?

Picking up where we left off in last week’s survey, we asked top investors in the space for their predictions on what is ahead once life resumes to its new normal. One investor mentioned how in March, they spent a third of their time in edtech. Now, they’re spending almost all their time vetting startups there. Another said that the sector has always been underfunded. Time will tell if venture capitalists become more bullish on the sector, and more importantly, if adoption from schools with strict budgets becomes more lenient.

A harsh statistic sums the dynamic of adoption and investment pretty well: according to Tetyana Astashkina and Jean Hammond of Learn Launch, less than 5% of the $1.6 trillion spent on education in the U.S. is attributed to edtech. Let’s see if other investors think that percentage will shift forward after the pandemic ceases.

• Jenny Lee, GGV
• Tetyana Astashkina, LearnLaunch
• Jean Hammond, LearnLaunch
• Marlon Nichols, MaC Venture Capital
• Mercedes Bent, Lightspeed Venture Partners
  
• Jennifer Carolan, Reach Capital
• Shauntel Garvey, Reach Capital
• Jan Lynn-Matern, Emerge Education
• Tory Patterson, Owl Capital
• Ian Chiu, Owl Capital
• Tony Wang, 500 Startups

Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

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