25 investments, mergers and acquisitions took place in the education industry last month, with a total financing amount of almost CNY 4 billion
25 investments, mergers and acquisitions took place in the education industry last month, with a total financing amount of almost CNY 4 billion. The largest financing amount of USD 300 million was raised by Bright Scholar (博实乐教育, NYSE: BEDU) an operator of international and bilingual K-12 schools in China.
We can see from the data below that the investment in July was concentrated in the early stage investment, accounting for more than 60% of the total, of which six were A round, four Pre-A and four angel rounds. Although the number of financings were more in the early stage rounds but the amount only accounted for 13% of the total. Among which the Pre-A round raised by Grand Education (格燃教育) of CNY 200 million contributed more than half.
In terms of regional distribution, the financing area in July significantly shrank, with only seven regions. Among them, as expected Beijing accounted for 60% of the total amount with 15 events, and continued to rank first in the financing area. Shanghai and Guangdong tied for the second place with three. Whereas Zhejiang, Fujian, Qinghai and Sichuan each had one financing each.
Among the financing events in July, there were 11 financings worth tens of millions, accounting for 44%, and six worth hundreds of millions. The largest transactions in July were mainly from the K12 field and the largest financing was the USD 300 million.
STEAM was still hot in the month of July, with a total of seven events taking place in the sector, early childhood education was second with six financings; compared to the previous months, the amount of financings in K12 sector were reduced. It is ranked third with only four events.
From the financing stage of each segment, except for the K12 field, the investment projects in other sub-sectors are mainly located in the early stage, and the early financing events of quality education and vocational education accounted for more than 70%.
In addition, this month's policy also puts emphasis on physical education. On July 8, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Education and Teaching Reform to Improve the Quality of Compulsory Education", and adhered to the "Five Education" and comprehensive development of quality. Education, which puts forward clear requirements for physical education, including “incorporating physical education into the high school stage school entrance examination”, “developing campus football”, and “encouraging sports social organizations to provide high-quality sports services for students”, etc.