China education SaaS player raises $225m

Tencent Holdings, SIG, Ince Capital and Gaocheng Capital also took part. It follows a Series B in July - described as being worth tens of millions of US dollars - from Ince Capital.

Founded in 2014, Eeo has gained significant traction this year with the launch of one standout product - ClassIn. The platform allows the traditional teaching curriculum to move seamlessly online, from blackboard demonstrations and the distribution of teaching materials to homework and after-class Q&A sessions. 

A group teaching function was added in August. Students can be divided up into as many as 50 individual groups, each of which has a collaborative blackboard and an audio and video communication area for group discussions. Teachers are free to enter any group to observe or participate in discussions. They can also invite individual groups to share their work on a stage accessible to everyone. The teaching process is exactly the same as an offline class.

“As the exclusive investor in the Series B, we have witnessed the rapid growth of Eeo Education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has realized continuous innovation and solid progress after post-pandemic," said Bin Hu, a founding partner at Ince.

The company claims to count 70% of large Chinese educational institutions - defined as those with annual revenue of more than RMB100 million - as ClassIn users. They include New Oriental Education & Technology and TAL Education Group, each of which runs hundreds of training centers. 

Overall, Eeo serves 60,000 schools and other education providers in 35 countries, as well as 20 million monthly active users across 150 countries and regions.

“SaaS and education are industries that Tencent has focused on for a long time. Eeo Education is at the intersection of the two. With outstanding products and technical capabilities, it provides very high-quality SaaS and has established a good reputation. During the pandemic, adoption of the online and offline integration model accelerated. In the future, such products and services may become a standard part of the education industry infrastructure," said Leiwen Yao, a managing director of Tencent Investment.

Most of the PE and VC money entering China's education sector targets teaching platforms. Within education services, content is the key focus. Recent activity includes 17 Education & Technology Group, a provider of "smart classrooms" featuring homework and academic assessment products, filing for a US IPO. Meanwhile, teaching materials supplier Aixuexi Education Group raised $200 million in funding as the third tranche of a Series D round.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Early-stage
• China
• Education
• Tencent
• Hillhouse Capital Management
• Ince Capital Partners
• Gaocheng Capital