Big-money investors poured more money into educational technology companies in 2011 than during the heady dot-com days of the late-1990s, according to a national market analysis that credits investor knowledge, in part, for the funding boom.
After a slump in investment capital during the mid and late 2000s, companies focusing on classroom technologies—including social media-centric solutions—are benefiting from a never-before-seen influx of funding from private investors and investment firms.
In a report released this week, “Fall of the Wall: Capital Flows to Education Innovation,” [1] GSV Advisors, which assists education entrepreneurs and tracks investments in educational companies and products, documented a steady rise in investment that peaked last year.
Educational technology innovators received investment capital 127 times in 2011, according to GSV [1], well above the 106 education companies that were funded in 1999, when investors rushed to technology startups during the dot-com boom that created an economic bubble that popped in 2000.