EdTech Next Academy

Empowering EdTech Entrepreneurs

Your EdTech Startup Journey starts here! In our EdTech Next Academy you will learn the basics of launching an EdTech startup and how to overcome the first obstacles so that you can establish yourselves successfuly on the education market.

Funded by:

Ready to immerse yourself in a multi-week program full of learning and EdTech-specific content that will help you take the first steps towards your own EdTech startup?

In our EdTech Next Academy, you will be intensively and individually trained by top mentors and established founders from the EdTech scene to learn the basics on topics such as founding, business plans and team building. You will receive the support you need to validate your idea for the EdTech market and take the necessary steps to start a company.

During the program, we will overcome hurdles together, face exciting challenges and celebrate the first successes of your start-up together.

At the end of the Academy, we want to offer the perfect starting conditions to prepare your startup journey as optimally as possible. Change the way people learn with your idea.

The next batch will take place from October 2025 to December 2025.

Hint: Applications only in German!

FOR TALENTS LIKE YOU

Format

Fixed starting and ending date
hybrid concept (online or on-site in Bielefeld)
program language: German

Schedule

Twice a year
10-week part-time program
time involved: 20 hours a week

Audience

Singular talents in EdTech with an entpreneurial mindset
teams with a business idea in its early phase

Focus

Startup Basics
team matching
contents specific to the EdTech sector

Goal

Validated business idea
assembled team of founders
entry into the Incubator

You can apply for EdTech Next Academy #3!

Your time is running out:

Days

Hours

Minutes

Seconds

Clear your calendar and start your journey to self-employment with us.
The application deadline for EdTech Next Academy #3 is September 25, 2023.

Education needs a digital paradigm shift!

Fresh and innovative ideas, developed and and established by bold founders, to enact transformation in old systems. EdTech represents that transformation in school systems and has the goal to use technology to improve, support, and expand education processes. These technologies are able to decisively influence the way people learn and create a lasting impact on many fields of education.

Let’s imagine that YOUR technology will analyze the learning behavior of students and adjust materials to their individual strengths and weaknesses thus strengthening the efficiency of their learning process. Or another scenario: Your software will help training companies to prepare skilled personnel for the new challenges our economy faces in the future. There are countless motivations why founders want to launch an EdTech Startup – we are excited about what motivates you!

Program Content

Idea Block

In our Idea Block you will learn how to evaluate what characterizes a successful business idea, how to find out if there is a market and demand for the idea, and which components are necessary to build a successful team.

10.10. & 11.10.2025

Building Block

Once you have completed the Building Block, you will know what the first version of your solution looks like, how to achieve that milestone, and how you can best approach and win over customers for your solution.

31.10. & 01.11.2025

Growth Block

In topic-specific workshops you will learn about the most important metrics of your business idea, how to systematically record and improve them, and which options you have to finance your startup.

28.11. & 29.11.2025

Final Pitch Day

The Final Pitch Day is the grand finale of the EdTech Next Academy. You and your team get to present your startup idea in front of a huge audience. A jury of investors and corporate representatives grades the pitches and chooses the winning team.

Download all program contents here!

Your benefits

GATHERING FIRST-CLASS KNOWLEDGE AND BUILDING A STRONG NETWORK

Practical Startup Knowhow

You get all the skills and all the information you need to build a successful EdTech startup and establish yourself in the international startup scene. Within 10 weeks you will learn what it really means to achieve the Problem-solution fit and to lay the groundwork so that your sales and investments can go through the roof.

Co-Founder Matching

Link up with other ambitious talents who share your mission so that you can grow together. Participating in our EdTech Next Academy is a groundbreaking step on the way to assemble a strong founder team. We bring amazingly talented founders together by evaluating hard and soft skills, interests, and personalities, even before the program starts.

For All Stages of Life

The EdTech Next Academy is designed to be job-compatible. You can participate while still pursuing your current activities, whether your work full-time, on a research project, a master’s degree or anything else. The program comprises online and on-site sessions in regular rotation. All sessions (both online and on-site) take place after work hours during the week or on weekends.

EdTech Expertise & Network

You will experience a unique blended learning experience through our e-learning platform. You can learn flexibly and independently of time, while at the same time benefiting from interactive onsite sessions. With high-quality learning content, interactive modules and practical exercises, you develop your skills in a targeted manner. The combination of online and onsite sessions allows you to achieve an optimal balance between self-directed learning and personal exchange.

Highly Qualified Experts & Entrepreneurs

The program is spearheaded by successful experts and mentors. All lecturers of the EdTech Next Academy are experienced investors and startup experts – you will learn from the best!

EdTech Founders Community Access

You get access to our Slack community and to the EdTech Builders Group whose members are among the most interesting founders and startup scene luminaries Germany has to offer. As one of the leading organisations in startup training in Germany and with solid connections to the international startup scene, the Founders Foundation additionally offers you access to our network of highly qualified mentors and experts, partners in various industries, business angels, and VCs.

Top-Class Mentors

Profit from the extensive expert knowledge of our mentors, lectureres, and international speakers – all of whom will actively help you on your entrepreneurial journey.

Dr. Jan Brinckmann

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy
ESADE Barcelona

Kristina Walcker-Mayer

CEO
Nuri

Jana Görs

Co-Founder
Zephram

This qualifies you for the program

Enthusiasm through EdTech to create a social impact u and move the world of tomorrow.
Affinity for educational topics - whether school, university or lifelong learning
as a team or alone
Applicants with initial ideas or people who would like to develop ideas with us

Your Next EdTech Event

Ideation Workshops

Every successful startup starts with a good idea. The million-dollar question: How do you find an idea that you can be passionate about and that also breaks through any ceiling? Only in very rare cases these ideas are born from a single moment of sudden inspiration. Much more often, they are the result of a well-structured process. In our ideation workshops, we will develop this process together with every single workshop having a specific focus.

Any questions?

Our Talent Acquisition Manager Sina will be happy to answer any open questions you may have about the EdTech Next programs.

Not exactly the right place?

Can’t find yourself and your company’s maturity level represented here? This is where you go next:

EdTech Next Incubator

For EdTech startup teams who want to further develop their idea.

You Have Questions?
Talk to us!

We are happy to answer your questions about our programs, our mission and the events we are hosting.

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Empowering EdTech Entrepreneurs