With raising a total amount of over a billion US dollars in 10 rounds of financing, the firms' next step might as well be an IPO.
According to media firm AAstocks, the Tencent-backed firm which specializes in teaching Chinese children English plans to go public in the US as soon as this year, aiming to raise at least USD 500 million. It is working with Credit Suisse as well as Goldman Sachs in this regard.
Although VIPKid said it has no clear listing plan upon being asked by EqualOcean.
The online tutoring platform has bagged a total of 10 rounds of funding by various investors such as Tencent, Sequoia Capital China, Northern Light Venture Capital, Matrix Partners China, Coatue and YF Capital. Its latest E round was raised in September 2019 worth USD 150 million which valued the company at about USD 4.5 billion.
It is worth mentioning that Tencent has participated in the D, D + and E rounds of financing contributing to the highest investment in the firm. The two sides have announced that they will continue to deepen cooperation in the fields of Internet education, artificial intelligence, cloud services and educational public welfare.
The track of online English education has been blessed with capital in recent years, but the firms have spent huge amounts on customer acquisition resulting in losses.
In order to continue to seize the competitive advantage, entering the secondary market has become the choice of many online education enterprises. Companies like Yuanfudao and Zuoyebang have already hinted at their plans of going public as soon as next year.