---
title: "Learning and EdTech as an investment | Marko Kyyrönen | Negotiator 47"
titleOriginal: "Oppiminen ja EdTech sijoituskohteena | Marko Kyyrönen | Neuvottelija 47"
episodeNumber: "47"
guest: "Marko Kyyrönen"
datePublished: 2020-11-18
duration: "46:41"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk"
captionsVtt: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep47-oppiminen-ja-edtech-sijoituskohteena-marko-kyyronen/captions.en.vtt
captionsSrt: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep47-oppiminen-ja-edtech-sijoituskohteena-marko-kyyronen/captions.en.srt
originalLanguage: "fi"
topics: ["investing_markets","saas_software"]
subtitleMethod: "none"
provenance: "Owner page assembled from the MacWhisper SRT transcript, YouTube metadata and the neuvottelija.fi episode record. Chapter timecodes are taken from the transcript; no caption files are published with this page."
fiCanonical: "https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/53-neuvottelija-47-oppiminen-ja-edtech-sijoituskohteena-marko-k"
canonical: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep47-oppiminen-ja-edtech-sijoituskohteena-marko-kyyronen/
---
# Learning and EdTech as an investment | Marko Kyyrönen | Negotiator 47

## Chapters

- [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=0s) Raising a specialist fund in a small capital market
- [02:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=154s) Skin in the game and when the carry arrives
- [05:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=306s) The first four investments, and Fuzu in East Africa
- [07:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=476s) Who dominates edtech, and in which segments
- [10:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=641s) Kahoot: from $350 million to $2.5 billion
- [13:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=793s) Does technology widen or level inequality?
- [15:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=952s) What research on early childhood education actually says
- [18:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=1112s) Attention span, gamification and education before tech
- [21:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=1266s) The public funds, the private builds
- [23:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=1424s) Adult learning and public-private partnerships
- [26:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=1586s) Credentialing: from university brands to evidence
- [28:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=1738s) Harvard's networks and the recruiter's mirror
- [31:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=1894s) Sparkmind's strategy and Europe as a dwarf
- [34:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=2059s) Stage, advisers and HundrED
- [36:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=2215s) Google Classroom, textbooks and the small-language problem
- [39:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=2371s) Learning without a place: audio, video and platforms
- [42:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=2523s) Compliance training, Power BI and AI as the decade's driver
- [44:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk&t=2674s) What a pitch needs — and why a few hundred million is not enough

## Summary

Sparkmind.vc managing director Marko Kyyrönen describes what it takes to raise a €60 million specialist fund in Finland and invest it in education technology. The episode covers Kahoot's path from a $350 million valuation to $2.5 billion, Fuzu's model in East African labour markets, Aino Saarinen's research on how long the effects of early childhood education actually last, the principle that education comes before tech, and the shift in credentialing from university brands to demonstrated evidence.

## What is discussed

- **The fund.** €40m first close the previous December, targeting €60m across some fifty investors. The team puts in around 2 per cent of commitments itself, and carry arrives in five to ten years — or not at all.
- **Fuzu.** Two business lines in East Africa: screened labour for African employers, and mobile learning content connecting study to a local career. A Nokia-background team and enormous scaling potential.
- **Who dominates.** Chinese companies lead the unicorn list, the three largest being tutoring platforms. Language learning and corporate learning are the growth segments.
- **Kahoot's trajectory.** Disney Ventures and Lego Ventures at ~$350m, a Merkur Market pre-listing at ~$650m, then SoftBank — and ~$2.5bn. Its €20–30m acquisitions were about buying pedagogical content, not technology.
- **Technology widens the gap.** Parents who pay can buy tutoring from anywhere; public investment is the levelling force, resting on Finland's teacher education and educational research.
- **Early childhood education, qualified.** Aino Saarinen's research on the child's need for close contact, aggression under resource strain, and effects that are strong but shorter-lived than the national myth.
- **Education is before tech.** Design starts from the learner-teacher interaction; platforms enable rather than solve, and the trend is pedagogical content moving onto them.
- **Public funds, private builds.** Wilma is a Visma product; purely public platform development loses its dynamism, so the public role is financing and equity rather than system construction.
- **Credentialing shifts.** 164 applications for two analyst roles; Miettinen replaced university brand with case studies. GitHub peer review and Fuzu's skills-first screening point the same way — though Harvard's networks still count.
- **The pitch.** Tell it concisely, substantiate it with numbers, show the team's track record, crystallise the customer value — and bring a market measured in billions, because a few hundred million will not do.

## Watch

The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: [Oppiminen ja EdTech sijoituskohteena | Marko Kyyrönen | Neuvottelija 47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpMC4E9uk).
A Finnish edition of this episode is published at [www.neuvottelija.fi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/53-neuvottelija-47-oppiminen-ja-edtech-sijoituskohteena-marko-k).

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Cite as: Sami Miettinen, Neuvottelija — Learning and EdTech as an investment | Marko Kyyrönen | Negotiator 47, https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep47-oppiminen-ja-edtech-sijoituskohteena-marko-kyyronen/, 2020-11-18. For quotes include episode 47 and timestamp.