Marcy, Bessemer back New Zealand-founded Chinese tuition platform
Marcy Venture Partners, an investment firm co-founded by US rap artist Jay-Z, and Bessemer Venture Partners have led a Series B round for Wukong Education, a New Zealand-founded teaching platform specialising in Chinese language training.
The round - said to amount to several tens of million US dollars - also featured Hong Kong actor Daniel Wu and Bobby Wagner, a Superbowl-winning former American football player.
Marcy was established in 2018 by Shawn Carter (also known as Jay-Z), former Roc Nation CEO Jay Brown and Larry Marcus, previously a general partner at Walden Venture Capital. The firm closed its second fund on USD 325m in 2021.
Wukong offers Chinese language education in overseas markets. The model involves connecting China-based teachers to foreign students for online one-to-one classes. It claims to have served more than 300,000 families across 100 countries and regions through a network of 3,000 teachers.
The approach is much like that of VIPKid, an English-language online learning platform that targets students in China and recruits teachers in North America. The company has received several rounds of funding, including a USD 500m investment in 2018 led by HongShan - formerly Sequoia Capital China - Tencent Investment, Yunfeng Capital, and Coatue Management.
However, China’s K-12 online education industry was largely wiped out in 2021 when regulators ruled that after-school tuition providers focused on academic subjects must be non-profit. The use of foreign personnel based overseas to deliver classes was banned, making life difficult for one-to-one platforms.
Wukong claims to have developed a Chinese-learning system based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) system and an inquiry-based teaching model. Following a free trial, users sign up for packages of 30-minute classes. The lowest entry point is a 12-class offering that costs USD 349.
Wukong also provides free weekly Chinese cultural classes based on a large-class model as a supplement to the one-on-one offering.
The company was founded in 2016 by Vicky Wang, who worked for CID Group and JD Capital early in her career before moving to New Zealand. Wukong established a global headquarters in the US last year and plans to launch mathematics and English language education programmes in 2023.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.