Jamieson Lee Hill, August 6th 2025

The UK EdTech startup sector is thriving. More students are learning online than ever before. This increased demand puts serious pressure on the platforms delivering these experiences. If you’re running an education technology company, you already know the importance of reliable, scalable, and secure infrastructure.

So, how do you grow without the budget of a global tech giant? That’s where colocation data centres come in. In this article, we examine how colocation can aid EdTech startups in scaling.

Strong Foundations for a Fast-Moving Sector

The global EdTech market is expected to more than double by 2030. According to Grand View Research (2024), the market is projected to grow from USD 163.49 billion in 2024 to USD 348.41 billion by the end of the decade. UK startups are right at the heart of this transformation.

As EdTech platforms evolve, the technical foundations they depend on become even more critical. Startups need a digital infrastructure that can keep up with the pace of change and ensure consistent performance. Whether supporting live classes, AI-driven tutoring, or secure data portals, infrastructure must be designed to meet the moment.

To succeed in this landscape, your platform must be:

Reliable: Downtime causes disruption, frustration, and reputational damage.

Scalable: User numbers can spike fast, especially during exams.

Secure: GDPR and data protection laws require full compliance.

Cost-effective: Few startups can afford to build and manage their own data centres.

As Grand View Research states, disruption to online edutech services can seriously affect the reputation of platforms. This is why colocation data services are a robust and reliable option:

“Service outages or slow response times can disrupt lessons, impact assessments, and damage the reputation of EdTech providers.”

Source: Grand View Research, 2024

What is Colocation?

Colocation means housing your servers and hardware in a professionally managed third-party data centre like IP House London. You still own your IT, but someone else provides the space, power, connectivity, cooling, and security."

This model of delivery is especially appealing to fast-growing startups. It allows you to focus on your core service delivery without the distractions and costs of running your own facilities. It is much more affordable than building and running onsite infrastructure. 

How Colocation Helps EdTech Startups

Most startups operate with a limited number of staff and a modest budget. Building on-site data centre infrastructure is often not an option due to the astronomical investment involved. Therefore, colocation data centres can be the ideal solution. Here are some reasons why:

Reliability: Colocation data centres maintain uptime, so there is no service disruption to edutech platforms. Reliability and speed are key advantages of colocation:

“Colocation enables faster deployment, improved service reliability and reduced costs—factors essential to high-growth sectors such as education.”

Source: Redcentric Data Centres, 2024

High Speed Connectivity:  IP House colocation services provide high-speed connections with low latency. That means learning and teaching run smoothly on edutech platforms. 

Faster Launches & Scalability: Leveraging colocation services, an edutech company can skip the hardware build-out. Deployment can be in days rather than months.

Better Focus: Leveraging colocation means your team concentrates on product development and user experience, rather than managing servers.

Lower Risk: With colocation services from centres like IP House London, you are guaranteed enterprise-grade uptime, security, and technical support.

Greener Footprint: Many colocation providers offer advanced energy-saving technologies that help reduce your environmental impact and carbon footprint. 

Economies of Scale:  On-site data centres and infrastructure are extremely expensive to set up and maintain. Partnering with a colocation data centre helps economies of scale and enhanced performance, as the quotation from Times Higher Education illustrates:

“Universities are waking up to the high capital costs of proprietary server rooms. Economies of scale, increased resilience, and more affordable high-performance computing are being achieved from shared data centres.”

Source: Cobb, 2014, Times Higher Education

Enhanced security online and physically

Colocation data centres offer both physical 24/7 security and online cybersecurity. IP House London has strict network security with firewalls, security cameras and many other security measures. This means your Edutech business is guaranteed robust protection for your data and systems.

Where Colocation Makes the Difference

In EdTech, performance and uptime are vital. Your educational users expect access to learning content and services without delays or failures. Whether you’re scaling to meet national demand or launching a local pilot, colocation can provide the infrastructure backbone you need to deliver value at scale. Some of the most common use examples include:

Virtual Classrooms: Keeping students connected to live lessons with zero lag.

Research Platforms: Managing and analysing complex academic datasets.

Student Records: Storing confidential information in a secure and compliant way to meet the strict GDPR.

Hybrid Models: Blending on-site and cloud infrastructure for flexibility.

Why IP House London?

At IP House London, we worked closely with educational providers and digital innovators who need performance without compromise. Our ISO-certified colocation services are tailored for startups and scaleups. If you value resilience, security, and exceptional connectivity, IP House is the ideal colocation partner. 

Whether you're hosting sensitive data or scaling up your platform, we provide the infrastructure you need. Our expert team truly understands the demands and needs of digital education. As we move into an era where big data is all-important, colocation is an affordable solution for data management:

“Hosting your server or servers within an existing data centre offers a cost-effective solution for companies looking to enhance their data management.”

Source: Sota Solutions, 2024 

UK EdTech and Colocation in 2026 and Beyond

The UK EdTech market is expected to surpass £3.4 billion by 2026. As AI, cloud computing, and personalised learning technologies take hold, digital infrastructure will become even more critical to the future of teaching and learning.

Startups that want to stay ahead of the curve must build on a foundation that supports change, innovation, and speed. That’s exactly what colocation provides: Flexibility, scalability, and the room to grow. As well as solid security and compliance to protect against cyberattacks and GDPR. The importance of data centres is clear to the UK government, as this statement by UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle shows:

“Kyle said: "Data centres power our day-to-day lives and boost innovation in growing sectors like AI. "This is why only last month, I took steps to class UK data centres as critical national infrastructure, giving the industry the ultimate reassurance that the UK will always be a safe home for their investment."

Source: Technology Secretary UK, BBC News 2024

At IP House London, we believe EdTech deserves infrastructure that scales with your mission, with affordable expansion. Collocation services are the smart pathway for Edtech start-ups looking to innovate, grow and deliver exceptional educational services. 

As this sector rapidly expands, colocation is set to become more prominent. 

“The role of EdTech is likely to grow significantly in coming years, particularly as a result of the rapid evolution and growth of AI technologies…”
 

Source: House of Lords Library, 2024

Want to find out more about Colocation Services for your EduTech Startup? Fill out the Contact Form below. Let's Talk!
 



Sources and Further Reading:

Grand View Research (2024) ‘Education Technology Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report.

House of Lords Library (2024) ‘Educational technology, digital innovation and AI in schools’.

Assetspire (2024) ‘The Importance of Colocation Data Centres In a Digital Age.

Sota Solutions (2024) ‘The business benefits of IT colocation services.’

Redcentric Data Centres (2024) ‘4 Business Benefits of Colocation’.

BBC News 2024, ‘New £1.9 billion Data Campus Confirmed’