Global investment in educational technology has fallen sharply from its pandemic-era peak of $16.7 billion in 2021 to under $3 billion in 2025, as venture capital shifts toward artificial intelligence and corporate training platforms, according to data from Tracxn, a startup-tracking firm. The sector's structural weaknesses — high costs to acquire customers, slow sales cycles with schools and institutions, and poor learner retention — have compounded the retreat, with the number of new edtech companies founded annually dropping from roughly 10,500 in 2020 to just 645 in 2025. High-profile collapses such as Indian giant Byju's, once valued at $22 billion, and the Nigerian startup Edukoya illustrate the broader reckoning, while surviving players are increasingly pivoting toward corporate skills training and job-focused credentials rather than general classroom instruction.