Edecth was one of the breakout sectors of the pandemic era, with UK companies raising £697.8m in 2021 — more than six times the previous year’s total. Investment has cooled significantly since, with 2025 seeing £131.6m raised, but the sector remains the largest by company count of any we’ve analysed, with 1,561 active edtech businesses now operating in the UK.
We’ve ranked the top 100 edtech companies by total equity raised (all data sourced from the Beauhurst platform).
What is edtech?
Edtech — short for education technology — refers to companies that develop digital products and services used in teaching, learning, training, and assessment. This spans online tutoring platforms, learning management systems, corporate training and upskilling tools, AI-powered tutoring, language learning apps, school administration software, digital textbooks, and immersive (VR/AR) learning experiences.
The UK has 1,561 active edtech companies — the largest sector population we’ve analysed. The number of active companies has grown 158% in the past ten years (2015–2025), reflecting both the diversity of education applications and the relatively low barrier to entry for software-led learning products.
Collectively, UK edtech companies have raised £2.60b in equity funding, with £1.84b — 71% of the total — secured since 2020. These companies employ an estimated 64,896 people and generate a combined turnover of £7.59b, making edtech one of the largest employers and revenue generators of any sector in our analysis.
Key findings
- Multiverse, an apprenticeship and upskilling platform, tops the ranking with £320.8m raised. It is closely followed by International Schools Partnership (£308.7m), which owns and operates schools internationally, and Immersive Labs (£162.0m), a Bristol-based cybersecurity training platform. NIOX (£139.9m) and Perlego (£71.4m) — an e-textbook subscription service — round out the top five.
- London accounts for 57 of the top 100 companies. The South East follows with 11, the East of England with eight, and both the South West and North West with six. Notably, the regional spread is broader than in most sectors — 13 of the UK’s 14 regions are represented in the top 100, reflecting EdTech’s geographic diversity.
- The stage breakdown leans firmly towards scaling businesses: 42 of the top 100 are at Growth-stage and 34 at Venture-stage, with 13 Established and just five Seed-stage companies. Only three companies in the top 100 have exited — a notably low exit rate compared to AdTech (16) or Big Data (9), suggesting acquirers have so far been less active in this space.
- The top 100 have collectively raised £2.11b, representing roughly 81% of all edtech equity funding in the UK. The top five alone account for £1.00b, with Multiverse and International Schools Partnership together making up over £629m.
