English education startup VIPKID raises $200m

Yang Zixuan, 8, a student at Beijing No 2 Experimental Primary School learns English through VIPkid online courses. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Online children English education startup VIPKID announced on Wednesday that it has finished the D round of financing and received an investment totaling $200 million.

Founded in 2013 and incubated by Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, VIPKID focuses on teaching English through one-on-one video courses. It aims to integrate top language teachers from North America, and provide highly efficient English learning experiences to Chinese children aged between 4 and 12.

This has been the largest financing globally for the K-12 online education sector. The financing is led by Sequoia Capital, and other investors, including Tencent Holding, YF Capital, ZhenFund, Matrix Partners China and ZTwo Capital.

Tencent Holdings confirmed that it has invested in VIPKID, but declined to further comment on the issue.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, VIPKID launched its online Chinese education platform Lingo Bus. It is designed to provide Chinese language education to children around the world through one-on-one video courses.