Zen Educate raises $37M and acquires Aquinas Education as it tries to address the teacher shortage

Zen Educate, an online marketplace that connects schools with teachers, has raised $37 million in a Series B round of funding.

The raise comes amid a growing teacher shortage crisis both sides of the pond, with a recent report from ADP Research Institute noting that the global pandemic exacerbated the existing supply/demand imbalance due to “stagnant wages and a stressful work environment.”

Founded out of London in 2017, Zen Educate replaces traditional third-party recruitment agencies that often use analog workflows and charge exorbitant fees. Zen Educate digitizes everything through a self-serve platform, removing pricey intermediaries from the equation in the process. Through the platform, teachers and schools create profiles and Zen Educate can automatically match the two entities based on their compatibility– this uses data such as proximity, skills, experience, among other preferences.

Schools can use Zen Educate to hire for full-time roles, but teachers can also use it to more easily find temporary or part-time roles that fit around their lives.