China online learning site Smartstudy raises $29m

Nanfang Asset Management, Southern Media Union Group and Haitong Securities also took part in the round through their investment units. The start-up has removed its variable interest entity (VIE) structure in preparation for an onshore listing.

Smartstudy was founded in 2014 by former employees at New Oriental Education & Technology Group, a US-listed private school operator in China. The platform focuses on helping Chinese students prepare for English tests, such as TOEFL, GRE and IELTS. It claims to have four million registered users - 60,000 of them paid users - and to have partnered with more than 1,000 education organizations.

The start-up raised a $10.6 million Series A round from Chinese internet giant Baidu. The latest funding will be used to add more partners to its platform, such as Xiaomi and LeTV, as part of efforts to develop virtual reality content. It also plans to open 100 offshore teaching centers by the end of 2017, Xiaoliang Wei, Smartstudy's founder, told in a press conference.

Golden Brick focuses on investments in technology, media and telecom, energy and natural resources, and has about $3 billion in assets under management. The firm was involved in the take-private of Chinese internet security software provider Qihoo 360 Technology and the acquisition of the web browser business of Norway's Opera Software.

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