China-based online language learning service iTutorGroup, which counts e-commerce group Alibaba as an investor, aims to secure up to $300m in fresh funding, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
The round would value iTutorGroup at approximately $2bn but prospective investors have not yet been revealed. It will likely precede an initial public offering expected to take place in either Hong Kong or the US in 2019.
Founded in 2004, iTutorGroup operates a range of online services helping Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese users to learn English.
The company has also created an online platform to assist primary and secondary education students in China with studying other subjects, such as mathematics.
TutorMing is aimed at international users wanting to learn Chinese, while LiveH2H markets iTutorGroup’s video conferencing software. The company currently employs more than 20,000 teachers across 135 countries who work with more than 200,000 students.
In 2015, iTutorGroup raised $200m in series C funding from GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, as well as the Russian and Chinese state-backed Russia-China Investment Fund, Goldman Sachs and Silverlink Capital at a $1bn valuation.
Alibaba participated in the company’s $100m series B round in 2014 alongside Temasek and Qiming Venture Partners.
Qiming had previously supplied $15m in series A funding for iTutorGroup in April 2012, before CyberAgent Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of internet company CyberAgent, injected an undisclosed sum in December the same year.
SBI Group, a subsidiary of telecommunications firm SoftBank, is also a past investor in the company.