20/09/2019
Tencent will invest $150 million in oline education platform VIPKID, VIPKID declined to comment
Author: Konwnews Unicorn
On September 19, Dow Jones reported that Tencent will invest $150 million in China’s online educational start-up company VIPKID. Konwnews Unicorn verified the matter with VIPKID, the company declined to comment on it.
Until recently, VIPKID received 8 financings totally, with the angel round in December 2013. The $150 million investment is Tencent's third investment in VIPKID. The first two were respectively the D round of $120 million financing in August 2017 and the D+ round of RMB3 billion financing in June 2018. In both cases, Tencent participated as an important investor.
According to 36Kr, a Chinese media for starups, in 2018, VIPKID launched a new round of financing, but after many twists and turns, it was not successful. According to TechWeb, a Chinese tech info media, as early as the beginning of 2019, there were financing rumors, which foreign media quoted informed investors as saying that VIPKID was raising $500 million in new funds, and the target value of the company was estimated at 5.5 billion to 6 billion Dollars. Compared to this funding target, the market value of the company after this round is $4.5 billion, which may not meet the company’s expectations.
According to Reuters, at the end of August 2019, Tencent put aside a plan to lead a new round of financing for VIPKID of $150 million. As to this matter, 36Kr called VIPKID, the company denied that. The Wall Street Journal reported that Tencent had hesitated to invest earlier because of concerns about the financial situation of VIPKID and the supervision of online education. However, people familiar with the matter said that the transaction is still being pushed forward.
The operational body of VIPKID is Beijing DaMi Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in October 2013 with a registered capital of 10 million yuan and the legal representative is Mi Wenjuan. According to the promotional materials of VIPKID, VIPKID is an online children's English education company. Its teaching materials was wrote by K12 teachers in North America. Its targeted clients are children aged 4-15, who learn English through one-to-one online video
It is reported that there are currently 5 million+ foreign teachers in the United States, and there are 150 million students in China. Among them, the company has more than 70,000 foreign teachers in North America and more than 600,000 students, covering 63 countries and regions around the world.
With VIPKID financing history:
