China-based online platform for teachers Knowbox received $100m in a series C round backed by education firm Tal Education Group. The round was led by Yunfeng Capital, which is a private equity firm co-founded by Jack Ma, the chairman of e-commerce group Alibaba. The new funding will be used to improve its teaching materials, develop data services and provide smart homework products for schools.
Founded in 2014, Knowbox has developed a platform through which teachers can provide personalised educational materials to students and assist them with homework. Knowbox has attracted over 27 million students and 2 million teachers from across more than 70,000 schools to date.
China-based online language learning service iTutorGroup, which has been backed by Alibaba in the past, was reported to be aiming to secure up to $300m in fresh funding. Alibaba took part in the company’s $100m series B round in 2014. Prospective investors in this new round were not revealed. However, the target amount implies that the company will be valued at approximately $2bn. This round was also reported to be likely to precede a flotation in either Hong Kong or the US expected in 2019.
Founded in 2004, iTutorGroup is an online language learning platform that runs a range of online services helping Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese users to learn English. The company has also set up another platform to help primary and secondary education students in China with studying other subjects. It also develops TutorMing, which is aimed at international users wanting to learn Chinese. iTutorGroup currently employs over 20,000 teachers across 135 countries, working with over 200,000 students.
These two companies making headlines are part of the broader edtech space, which has been drawing the attention of a number of corporate venturers over the past years, as the GCV Analytics historical bar chart suggests. Most of the corporate-backed deal flow has gone into companies based in North America and Asia.
