China’s education-technology industry has heated up over the past five quarters, with 2014 seeing multi-year highs for investment activity. Ed-tech companies based in China raised $321M in equity investments across 26 deals last year. This is up over 400% in funding terms, and 18% in deals year-over-year.
Almost halfway through 2015, that trend doesn’t look to slow, as ed-tech companies have raised $317M in just under two quarters, only $4M shy of 2014’s full-year total. The funding has been anchored by multiple $50M+ rounds, including 17zuoye’s $100M Series D from Digital Sky Technologies, H Capital, and others.
The majority of the top ed-tech financings since 2014 have occurred in the last 3 quarters, including 4 of the top 5 largest deals in the space. Q1’15 saw multiple large financings which valued Chinese ed-tech companies at $100M+, including 17Zuoye’s $100M Series D, which valued the company at a whopping $600M, NetDragon Education’s $52.5M Series A, ($477.5M valuation), Yuantiku’s $60M Series D ($360M valuation), and Genshuixue’s $50M Series A ($250M valuation).
See below for the top 10 ed-tech financings in China since 2014.
| Company | Round | Select Investors |
|---|---|---|
| TutorGroup | $100M (Growth Equity // Q1’14) |
Alibaba Group, QiMing Venture Partners, Temasek Holdings |
| 17zuoye | $100M (Series D // Q1’15) |
Digital Sky Technologies, H Capital, Shunwei Fund, Temasek Holdings |
| Yuantiku | $60M (Series D // Q1’15) |
China Media Capital, IDG Capital Partners, Matrix Partners China, New Horizon Capital |
| Dasheng | $55M (Series C // Q4’14) |
Doll Capital Management, Sequoia Capital China, Shunwei Fund |
| NetDragon Education | $52.5M (Series A // Q1’15) |
Alpha Animation & Culture, IDG Capital Partners, Vertex Venture Holdings |
| Genshuixue | $50M (Series A // Q1’15) |
Banyan Capital, GP Capital, QF Capital |
| Xingshuai Teach | $30M (Series B // Q3’14) |
Legend Capital, Northern Light Venture Capital |
| Xiaozhan Jiaoyu | $29M (Series B // Q1’15) |
GGV Capital, Shunwei Fund |
| JiKe Academy | $22M (Series B // Q3’14) |
BlueRun Ventures, SIG Asia Investments |
| 17zuoye | $20M (Series C // Q1’14) |
Digital Sky Technologies, H Capital, Shunwei Fund, Tiger Management Corp |
Want more China ed-tech data? Login to CB Insights or sign up for free below.
If you aren’t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.