Chinese Coursera-style education portal scores $16.5 million funding

Uniquedu, the maker of China’s Coursera-style online education portal Kaikeba, secured RMB 100 million (US$16.5 million) in series A funding led by Fosun Venture Capital Investment, according to TechNode.

Uniquedu is a China-based education company with a presence in Beijing, Silicon Valley, Miami, and Tokyo. It started as an offline company, then launched Kaikeba in August.

The university-level classes on its Chinese-language Kaikeba focus on software development and project management. Subjects range from cloud computing to internet marketing to Java programming.

The massive open online courses (MOOC) work similarly to western counterpart Coursera. Coursera and Chinese web giant Netease struck a deal last October to launch a Chinese-language version, which covers a wider range of subjects.

Uniquedu is backed by several noteworthy Chinese universities, including Beihang University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Dalian University of Technology, and Xiamen University. The certificates that students receive upon completion of a course can be exchanged for credits at these universities. Alternatively, Coursera has support from Peking University and National Taiwan University, as well as several top-notch western schools.

Earlier this week, online English-learning institution TutorGroup announced it raised $100 million in funding from Alibaba, Temasek Holdings, and Qiming Venture Partners.

(Source: TechNode)

(Editing by Steven Millward)