Zen Educate: Creas' latest investment
Zen Educate has raised €33.5m in a Series B round, the largest European education tech round in 2024.
Creas has joined the project to lead, alongside the team and existing investors, the expansion and monitoring of the impact objectives co-designed with Zen Educate.
The Funding Round
The €33,5m Series B was led by Round2 Capital, with participation from existing investors Adjuvo, Brighteye Ventures, FJ Labs, Ascension Ventures, and a host of prominent angels, including Octopus founder and CEO Simon Rogerson. Creas joined the round as leading impact fund, to contribute to the future impact strategy of the company.
Zen Educate in Detail
Zen Educate is a platform that connects teaching professionals with schools, offering roles like teachers, teaching assistants, special needs teachers, and cover supervisors in the UK and the US.
Zen streamlines the process for schools to find supply teachers, addressing inefficiencies and high costs associated with traditional recruitment agencies. The platform facilitates a more direct connection between schools and teaching professionals, promising savings for schools and better earnings for teachers.
The company is focused on improving substitute and special needs teachers’ staffing and working experience while also training teacher assistants for early years and special needs.
Zen Educate is led by a strong management team with relevant background in strategic consulting and the entrepreneurial world. The core management team has worked together in Zen over the past 4 years.
Use of funds
The funding will enable Zen Educate to pursue further acquisitions in both the UK and US markets, driving growth and strengthening its presence in these regions. Additionally, this investment will support the expansion of the company's innovative school workforce management software, including its suite of SaaS solutions designed to streamline credentialing, ensure compliance, and manage staff absences more efficiently
Problem and Solution
The education temporary staffing system is currently marked by complexity and inefficiency. Schools that need substitute or special education teachers often turn to staffing agencies, which are not only expensive but also fragmented and operate through outdated analogue methods. This creates significant inefficiencies and results in poor matching of available teachers to the schools' specific needs.
In the United States, this issue is particularly critical, as approximately 20% of substitute teacher requests go unfilled. In some states, such as Minnesota, the unmet demand can rise to as high as 60%-65%. The shortage is even more pronounced in the area of special needs education, where 40% of public schools report extreme difficulty in filling special education vacancies. This shortage highlights the urgent need for a more efficient, scalable, and affordable staffing solution in the education sector.
By optimizing the matching process between teachers and schools, the company delivers significant improvements across key areas. One of the most impactful outcomes is the increase in teacher fill rates, which has risen from 35% to an impressive 80% in certain states. This improvement directly addresses the challenge of teacher shortages.
Moreover, the company generates strong financial savings for schools, reducing agency fees by an average of 65%. This enables schools to reallocate these funds towards more productive initiatives.
The platform also ensures better teacher quality by curating candidates based on proximity, skillset, availability, and feedback, resulting in faster and more cost-effective staffing. In addition, special education has seen a considerable boost, with 25% of vacancies filled by Zen Educate dedicated to 1:1 special education needs assistants. The company supports these professionals with a comprehensive suite of training programs, equipping them to provide better care and support for students with special needs.
Going Forward
Zen Educate is currently active in 11 regions across the UK and five states in the US, with plans for further expansion throughout the US over the next two years. The company is focused on making strategic acquisitions in both markets, with the goal of consolidating what is currently a fragmented educational staffing landscape. By doing so, Zen Educate aims to revolutionize the global education staffing industry, transforming how schools connect with quality teachers and staff at scale.