TechCrunch Newsletters - It’s a good time to invest in edtech

Welcome to TechCrunch+ Tuesday

We haven’t heard much from the edtech sector ever since the pandemic forced students out of the classrooms and in front of their computers.

But, as Anna Heim writes in the intro of our most recent survey of edtech investors, “we found that with AI in the picture, edtech startups have been as quietly busy as a subterranean network of moles in fall.”

Just tacking AI onto a product isn’t enough, and investors are hoping that the technology will lead to more innovation in the space. Check out Anna’s story on the future of edtech in emerging markets as well as the opportunities that AI can bring.

Thanks for reading!

Karyne

Read More

4 startup fundamentals to help avoid epic product fails

A pretty solid piece of advice when building a business is to listen to the customers and build the product around it. But sometimes, even when following business fundamentals, the product fails. But this product death cycle doesn’t need to repeat itself, writes Zeda.io founder and CEO Prashant Mahajan. “There are ways companies can better understand their customers’ pain points to develop the right products that solve the right problems at the right time.”

Read More

Exxon throws a fit over shareholders exercising their rights

The solid piece of advice above can also extend to shareholders: Companies had better listen to them. But Exxon this week seems to have missed that memo. The company is “unhappy with the fact that shareholders are exercising their rights in a way that acknowledges the realities of climate change and seeks to guide the company to a true net-zero future so that it can continue to be a going concern in 2050 and beyond,” writes climate reporter Tim De Chant.

Read More

Pitch Deck Teardown: Rypplzz’ $3M seed deck

Rypplzz’ deck has nine slides, yet not a lot of information you’d expect, writes resident pitch expert Haje Kamps. And he gets right to the point on how he feels about that: “I’m not going to sugarcoat this one: I honestly struggled to find three good slides that had useful information in an accessible form.”

Read More