Alibaba joins $1.6b round for Baidu-backed Chinese edtech firm Zuoyebang

Zuoyebang, a Chinese edtech startup, announced that it has secured US$1.6 billion in a series E+ round from Alibaba, Tiger Global, SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital China, and FountainVest Partners.

Photo credit: Zuoyebang

The latest investment comes after the company raised US$750 million in a series E round in June, led by Tiger Global and FountainVest Partners.

Founded in 2015 by ex-Baidu exec Hou Jianbin, Zuoyebang is the spinoff of Chinese search engine Baidu. It provides livestreaming classes, online homework correction, and other distance-learning services.

The firm claims that it has over 50 million daily active users, 170 million monthly active users, and 800 million registered users. It also claims to be the only edtech app that has achieved over 100 million monthly active users in China.

With the fresh capital, the company will focus on developing its big-sized K12 classes, as well as improving its product and technology, its CEO said in a statement.

China is the largest market globally in the edtech space, with more than 400 million online education users. It is projected to reach 453.8 billion yuan (US$69.4 billion) in 2020, growing by 12.3% from the previous year, according to research firm Daxue Consulting.

Zuoyebang’s archrival Yuanfudao reportedly closed US$300 million in fundraising from Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital this month. Yuanfudao is valued at US$15.5 billion after it had raised US$2.2 billion in series G1 and G2 financing rounds in October.

Currency converted from Chinese yuan to US dollar: US$1 = 6.53 yuan.