China’s VIPKid raises $200m Series D
VIPKid, a China-based English-language learning platform backed by VC investors, has completed a $200 million Series D round of funding, in what the company claims is the largest investment in the K-12 education space globally.
Sequoia Capital China led the round, with participation from domestic internet giant Tencent Holdings. Existing backers Matrix Partners China, Yunfeng Capital, and ZhenFund also re-upped.
Incubated by privately-owned Chinese school Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in 2013, the start-up recruits English-speaking teachers to provide one-on-one online tuition to Chinese children aged 5-12 years. Over the past four years, the platform has expanded to more than 20,000 North American teachers and 200,000 students who pay for the courses. The company expects its revenue to reach RMB5 billion ($750 million) this year, according to a statement.
As part of the funding round, Tencent will cooperate with VIPKid in the fields of cloud services, artificial intelligence, online education, and education charities. In addition to its existing English teaching platform, the company recently began offering Mandarin classes under the Lingo Bus brand, targets students in the US and other overseas markets.
During the testing period, Lingo Bus has attracted 1,053 registered users, of whom 93 are paid users. The platform is expected to reach 50,000 paid users over the next three years through expansion into new geographies.
VIPKid has raised several rounds of funding, including a seed round from Sinovation Ventures in 2013 and a Series A round in 2014, joined by Matrix and Sequoia. Northern Light Venture Capital then led a $20 million Series B round for the company in 2015, while ZhenFund made a follow-on investment in April 2016.
Four months later, the company closed a $100 million Series C round led by Yunfeng Capital, and received an undisclosed sum of investment from Bryant Stibel, a new VC firm launched by retired NBA star Kobe Bryant and his partner Jeff Stibel.
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