JD Capital backs China’s Gaosi Education
China-focused GP JD Capital has invested in Gaosi Education, an educational and training service provider that focuses on primary and middle school students.
The size of the transaction was not disclosed but local media reported it as RMB400 million ($63 million). As part of the deal, JD Capital, formerly Jiuding Capital, plans to launch an education industry fund with Gaosi to consolidate its leading position in the market.
Founded in 2009, Gaosi runs K-12 after-school teaching programs in the form of classroom instruction, one-to-one services and online courses. The group employs more than 600 teachers and operates 20 teaching centers. It claims to have served more than 60,000 students since inception.
The company recently launched a B2B online teaching platform - Aixuexi - to provide academic teaching solutions and other related services to primary and secondary schools.
Gaosi raised over $10 million from Morningside Technologies in 2011.
China's K-12 education is worth more than RMB400 billion and over RMB4.4 billion was invested in online education sector last year. Funded start-ups tend to operate in the areas of early education, K-12 education, vocational and overseas studies, JD said in a statement.
In June, K-12 after-school tutoring service provider TAL Education Group led a $100 million round for Changingedu.com, a platform that connects private teachers with students. In March, Banyan Capital led a $50 million Series A round for Genshuixue, committing $41 million to the online education platform.
Prior to that, H Capital led a $100 million Series D round of funding for 17zuoye.com, a Chinese K-12 online learning and teaching platform. Meanwhile, an online education unit of China games developer NetDragon Websoft also secured $52.5 million from IDG Capital Partners, Vertex Ventures and Shenzhen-listed Alpha Animation.
Beijing-headquartered JD Capital was established in 2007. It recently partnered with Addor Capital to lead a $50 million Series B round of funding for a Chinese online second-hand cars trading platform Mychebao.com.
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