Singapore’s GIC leads $200m round in Warburg, Tencent-backed Chinese edtech firm

Chinese edtech company Aixuexi Education Group announced that it has secured nearly US$200 million in a series D2 round led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.

Existing investor Warburg Pincus also participated in the round.

Photo credit: Aixuexi Education Group

Founded in 2009, Aixuexi provides online courses covering mathematics, Chinese, English, physics, chemistry, biology, science, and programming for students from primary to high school.

It operates under the online-merge-offline (OMO) model and combines education with artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing.

With the new funds, the company will invest in technology and education services to improve its products. It will also empower offline education institutions across underdeveloped areas to go online.

Aixuexi claims it has partnered with over 20,000 education institutions and served over 25 million students across 31 provinces in the country.

In April this year, the Beijing-based company formed a partnership with tech giant Huawei to improve its OMO model by co-developing a cloud computing, 5G, big data, internet of thing, and mobile intelligent terminal.

“Underdeveloped areas lack qualified teachers and education resources, which cannot meet the high demand from students. Aixuexi will bring its services to Tier 3 to Tier 6 cities and help the offline education institutions to operate under the OMO model,” said Gordon Ding, managing partner at Warburg Pincus.

Last year, the company secured US$140 million in a series D round led by Warburg Pincus, followed by an undisclosed amount in a D+ round led by Tencent.

See also: Indonesian edtech’s biggest challenges

Major players in the Chinese edtech market include Yuanfudao, which was valued at US$15.5 billion, and Zuoyebang, which raised US$750 million in a series E round in June this year. TikTok’s parent company ByteDance also launched its own edtech brand Dali Education last month.