China-based children’s online tutoring provider Xigua Chuangke has received RMB150m ($21m) in a series B round led by private-sector education provider New Oriental Group’s New Oriental Education and Cultural Industrial Fund.
New Oriental was joined by conglomerate Oceanwide Holdings, vocabulary app developer Baicizhan, growth equity firm SAIF Partners and venture capital firms Sequoia Capital China and Matrix Partners China.
Founded in early 2017, Xigua Chuangke provides online computer programming and creative-thinking courses to children aged seven to 12. It has more than 1 million users, 300,000 of which pay for the service, with 3% coming from foreign markets.
The company’s courses can be purchased for as little as $14 and allow children to practice a free programming language called Scratch to create cartoons or games. It plans to exploit technology as the basis for further research and development aimed at enriching the learning experience for its students.
The capital will fund upgrades to Xigua Chuangke’s artificial intelligence and big data-equipped teaching assistance and learning assessment tools.
Sequoia Capital China and Matrix Partners China had previously combined for Xigua Chuangke’s $7.9m series A round in March 2018, according to China Money Network.