VCs commit $15m to Chinese art tuition start-up

Additional commitments came from Wecapital Group, BlueRun Ventures, and Chuangzhi Capital. The company previously raised $4.6 million in Series A funding from Bluerun and Shunwei Capital in 2014. This was followed by RMB100 million ($14.5 million) across the first two tranches of the Series B, which closed at the end of 2015 and 2016, respectively.

The Beijing-based start-up live broadcasts art classes for children aged four to 12 through its self-developed one-on-one Art Class program. It claims to have accumulated 10,000 registered users since the program was launched in April, driving average monthly revenue to RMB10 million.

Meishubao also has an app with around 6.5 million registered users, of whom three million are classified as active users. The app hosts discussion forums and question-and-answer sessions, catalogs photos and videos on art-related topics, and provides information on more than 4,000 global art schools and 300,000 art teachers.

A third business line involves the sale of online software services to around 300 Chinese art tutoring schools that have more than 100,000 students. Meishubao claims that each student uses its software in the classroom for an average of two-and-a-half hours each day.

Art has historically been less of a priority in China’s education system and doesn’t feature on the curriculum for the compulsory university entrance examinations. However, parents increasingly want their children to have more rounded education and this has driven demand for out-of-school activities.

The broader market for art tutoring services was worth RMB136 million in 2016 and is set to grow rapidly over the next few years, according to Zhiyan, a local consultancy.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Early-stage
• Technology
• Media
• China
• Education
• BlueRun Ventures