The $47M will help VR EdTech firm Labster offer its services to a global audience.

VR EdTech firm Labster has secured $47M in funding to support its global expansion and develop its virtual laboratory software.  By investing more funds into its library of science simulations and expanding its reach to younger students and adult workforce skills training, Labster will be able to serve 100 million students around the world through its institutional and government partnerships.

Total investment in Labster now stands at $147 million. This new financing tranche is sourced from new investors: Sofina Group and Pirate Impact, along with fresh infusions from existing investors: Owl Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, EduCapital, NPF Technologies, and GGV Capital. They are joining the Series C round announced in 2021 led by Andreessen Horowitz. Additional investors included Balderton Capital, Northzone, Swisscom Ventures, and David Helgason, founder of Unity Technologies.

“As a contributor to sustainable development, Sofina is proud to support Labster’s vision of empowering millions of students with an engaging STEM learning experience,” said Bertrand Fawe, investment manager at Sofina Group. “The use of immersive virtual reality technology will continue to play a growing role in the delivery of education.”

“Labster’s mission is to provide all students, regardless of socioeconomic status or geographic location, with equitable access to high-quality engaging science education and virtual laboratories — an ongoing critical need accelerated by the pandemic and now rapidly growing globally as digitalization of the education sector with hybrid and remote learning continues,” said Michael Bodekaer Jensen, co-founder and CEO of Labster. “This additional funding will help us to continue growing our support for a broader group of students, teachers, and educational institutions around the world to make our mission a reality. There has been a fundamental change in the nature of education over the last two years that confirms the high value and impact on student engagement and learning outcomes of virtual educational simulations offered in tandem with in-person, teacher-led coursework in a post-pandemic world.”

A shared commitment to education

Named by Global Silicon Valley’s (GSV) EdTech 150 as one of the most transformative private companies in education, Labster’s team of 350-plus employees supports over 3,000 universities and high schools, tens of thousands of courses, and millions of students every year. Throughout 70-plus countries, VR EdTech firm Labster’s software is delivered on a state-of-the-art digital platform that provides seamless access, implementation, and integration with other systems for users.

“Students around the world benefit from learning science in Labster’s virtual world, combining advanced techniques from game development with learning psychology and virtualization of labs,” said Scott Kupor, managing partner, Andreessen Horowitz. “This allows millions of students to access high-quality education that was previously unreachable. We are thrilled to continue to partner with Labster.”

“Our confidence in the vision and team at Labster couldn’t be greater,” said Tory Patterson, managing director, Owl Ventures. “We have extremely high conviction in the future of digital learning and Labster is unlocking the most profound learning outcomes in the sector. Every student in every school should be leveraging Labster’s platform to accelerate science learning. We are ecstatic to further our support of Labster.”

The new funding will contribute to the VR EdTech firm’s ambitious roadmap for expansion. In addition to expanding into new geographic regions, Labster is now hiring across all major teams including engineering, product, sales, and customer success. This next stage of expansion will provide educators and students with virtual lab simulations for hybrid, remote, and in-person learning modalities worldwide.

“We are tackling a global learning crisis where current access to engaging and impactful education is not meeting demands or servicing students well enough,” said Mads Tvillinggaard Bonde, Labster co-founder and executive chairman. “Science education is traditionally so ineffective that 60% of STEM students drop out. Labster is the only offering in the market that provides a highly interactive life-like laboratory experience that is documented to reduce failure rates and improve outcomes for students. We are proud to produce high-quality, affordable science education that helps teachers and students to empower the next generation of scientists.”

New to EdTech?  Read our EdTech 101 guide: https://global-edtech.com/edtech-definitions-products-and-trends/