Views from the investment desk: edtech

Edtech is having a moment, and it’s not just about flashy platforms or artificial intelligence (AI) hype. What we’re seeing right now in the UK is a real shift in how large language model (LLM) technology is being used, both in and out of the classroom, to solve meaningful problems for teachers and students alike.

The numbers tell the story. The UK edtech market was worth £5.4 billion in 2023 and is forecast to grow more than fivefold by 2035.¹ That kind of growth doesn’t happen without a strong underlying driver, and right now, that driver is the combination of AI capabilities and a clear need in the education system.

What makes this space so interesting right now is how AI is starting to reshape both the learner and teacher experience at the same time. Among teachers, AI use jumped from 31% to nearly 48% in the space of a year, mainly to cut down planning time, generate ideas, and personalise materials and admin.²

On the learner side, we’re seeing a surge in tutoring-style apps that give students on-demand support. These can fill gaps in understanding, offer revision help, and give personalised answers in a way that simply wasn’t possible a few years ago. Students are also engaging with AI on their own terms. Around 35% of UK students aged 10 to 16 now use AI tools to support their learning.³

But the question we ask as investors is: where are the businesses that can make this technology useful, and impactful, for the people who matter?

One company we’ve backed recently is doing exactly that. It’s called Chalkie, and it’s one of the most exciting early-stage businesses we’ve come across in this space. The premise behind Chalkie is simple. Teachers are overstretched. They’re spending more time planning lessons, preparing materials and doing admin, and less time actually working with pupils. Morale is low. Teacher retention is falling. And workloads are just too high for many schools to manage.

The founders of Chalkie saw an opportunity to give teachers some of that time back. They previously ran a company in the tutoring space, so they know the sector. With this new venture, they’ve focused on helping teachers generate classroom materials quickly, easily, and in line with the curriculum.

Say you’re a Year 4 teacher covering a history topic. You go into Chalkie, choose the subject and topic, and it creates a ready-to-use teaching pack. That includes slides, images, worksheets, everything you’d normally spend hours pulling together. It’s all aligned to the National Curriculum, but still editable, so teachers can tweak things to suit their class.

What’s powerful here is how the tech can also help with personalisation. If some pupils need extra support and others are flying ahead, you can instantly create differentiated worksheets. You don’t need to spend hours building separate resources from scratch. Chalkie makes it easy to adapt to your classroom’s needs.

This is the kind of product that doesn’t just talk about AI, it uses it to fix a real, day-to-day problem. It’s not trying to replace the teacher. It’s about enabling them to focus on what they do best. The early traction has been strong. Teachers are responding well to it, because it saves them time and helps them deliver better lessons. There’s genuine appreciation for a tool that feels built with their challenges in mind. And for us, it’s that combination – strong adoption, clear utility, and real-world impact – that makes it such a promising business.

What we liked about Chalkie is that it meets teachers where they are. It doesn’t expect them to become AI experts. It just helps them do their job more effectively.

There’s another broad trend we’re watching, which is the evolution of the classroom itself. With the government’s EdTech Strategy continuing to push digital innovation, schools are investing more in Learning Management Systems and other tech infrastructure. This creates an environment where new tools can be introduced more easily and integrated more widely.

Government backing is helping. For example, in 2025 the Department for Education dedicated £45 million to improve connectivity, covering both wireless and fibre upgrades. And over the past few years, more than £400 million in funding has been directed toward broader digital education projects, helping schools adopt edtech solutions. The pieces are starting to come together – and that opens the door for faster adoption of better products.

Of course, the social impact side matters too. Education is one of those sectors where good products can genuinely change lives. Helping teachers spend more time with pupils instead of creating resources on weekends isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about making the profession more sustainable, and ultimately improving outcomes for students.

As always, the lens we bring as investors is not just about where the market is going, but where real problems are being solved. The edtech space is full of promise, but it’s also full of noise. What we look for are the teams that understand their users, build products that work, and can scale with the right support. Chalkie ticks a lot of those boxes. It’s early days, but we’re confident it has the potential to play a significant role in the future of how teachers work and how students learn. This is a sector that’s growing fast, changing quickly, and touching millions of lives. And we think there’s much more to come.

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¹ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/uk-edtech-market-46214

² https://thirdspacelearning.com/blog/ai-in-education/

³ https://www.gostudent.org/en-gb/blog/statistics-of-students-using-ai