The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is the lead investor in the Kitchener, Ont.-based edtech’s funding round that will close soon. This is Teachers’ first investment in the company, whose platform helps students apply for education abroad. ApplyBoard would not comment on the size of the round. (The Globe and Mail)

Talking point: The funding follows a US$170-million Series C closed in September 2020. The firm was valued at US$2.77 billion before the current round, PitchBook shows. The influx of funding coincides with broader investor interest in edtech during the pandemic. Startups in the sector raised a record US$13.3 billion in global venture funding in 2020, nearly 50 per cent more than the previous record year set in 2018, according to a PitchBook report. The pension fund’s Teachers’ Innovation Platform (TIP) is leading the investment in ApplyBoard. TIP, led by Teachers’ veteran Olivia Steedman, aims to boost the pension’s holdings in private tech firms that are “solving a profound problem or delivering an unmet need.” Its first investment was in Elon Musk’s SpaceX in 2019. It now has about $3.5 billion invested and posted a 16.3 per cent return in 2020.