GL Ventures, Gaorong invest $80m in China's Kaikeba
Chinese vocational education platform Kaikeba has spun out from Huike Group and raised RMB550 million ($80 million) in Series A funding led by Gaorong Capital and GL Ventures, the VC unit of Hillhouse Capital.
This is said to be the largest single fundraising in the vocational education space. The proceeds will go towards technology updates, especially in the field of artificial intelligence. The platform will also invest in digital talent training and broadening its subject categories.
Huike raised a $20 million Series A round led by Fosun Venture Capital Investment in 2014, followed by a RMB300 million Series B in 2015 led by Qian He Capital. Series C and D rounds of RMB5 billion and RMB1.5 billion were led by Beijing Huaruan Jinhong Asset Management and China Oceanwide Group, respectively.
Huike started off as an offline education service in 2010. It targeted higher education and vocational training, aiming to break down barriers between the two. Students who finish courses on the Kaikeba platform receive certificates that are honored by partner universities and can be exchanged for degree credits. The likes of Beihang University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Dalian University of Technology, and Xiamen University support the platform.
Kaikeba launched in August 2013 and has accumulated more than four million paying users. It is one of the earliest online education players in China to focus on the IT and digital courses, covering subjects such as Java and Python programming. Courses are available in multiple formats from live broadcasts to AI interactive scripts. The company has worked with Baidu, Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings, Huawei Technologies, Didi Chuxing, and Microsoft on training programs.
In the same space, 51CTO, a Chinese online technology training platform, raised $20 million in a Series C funding round led by Gaocheng Capital in February. 51CTO operates as a course supermarket that links students and teachers who have developed their own courses.
Other relevant VC-backed start-ups include Yunxuetang, an online corporate training services provider, and vocational training services specialist Sanjieke.
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