After the completion of this round of financing, Captian Science has become another educational enterprise to have raised financing from both, New Oriental and TAL.
The online science education brand Captain Science (科学队长) has completed an undisclosed amount of new round of financing yesterday, with New Oriental as the strategic investor.
TAL another giant in China’s education industry has participated in round A and B of Captain Science which were raised in 2016 and 2018 respectively. After the completion of this round of financing, the Captain Science (科学队长) has become another educational enterprise that has raised investment from both New Oriental and TAL.
According to ITJUZI Captain Science had announced that it had received an investment of CNY 30 million in May 2018 for B round. The financing was Led by Shanshui Capital (山水创投) and followed by the likes of TAL (好未来), and Context Labs (场景实验室). The company received the angel round back in 2015, invested by ZhenFund (真格基金).
Science Captain is dedicated to professional science education and provides a complete set of science courses for children aged 3-12. The aims are to enable Chinese children to enjoy science education through their products and services and guide children to establish scientific values, master scientific knowledge, and methods, and improve scientific literacy.
The official website shows that Captain Science course has an audio version, a primary school edition, and an experimental box. Up to now, Captain Science has more than 1000 contracted scientists to participate in curriculum development and teaching.
New Oriental Education & Technology Group, which describes itself as the biggest provider of private educational services in China, announced last year that it will make a USD 220 million investment in education technology companies in China.
Other than Captian science New Oriental has led investments in 3 other education companies: Micro language 微语言 (USD 7.3 million), Shizhi Media视知 (unannounced), and
Xiaoyang Edu晓羊教育 (CNY 150 million).
Another leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, TAL, earlier this year led the USD 250 million investment in an online English training institution, DaDa previously known as DaDaABC. DaDaABC, connects Chinese children, ages 4 to 16 and as well as children from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and other countries with native English speakers to help them with their language and pronunciation skills. Teachers and students meet virtually, often from their own homes across the globe, through DaDa’s AI-powered online portal.
New Oriental and TAL without any doubt have been the largest education companies not only in China but in the world. Five years ago, only two of the world’s largest 15 education companies were Chinese owned. Today, however, that number has grown to ten. TAL & New Oriental, the world’s two largest listed education companies are both Chinese, with TAL being worth just over USD 19 billion and New Oriental more than USD 14 billion.