Online Education VIPKID is Booming

On-demand economy is on the rise. We have all heard of Uber， Lyft， Airbnb providing a platform for people to match whatever they have （from fancy apartments to their passenger seat） with people that have a demand for those resources. The latest industry to follow is online English language education in China.

Bryant Stibel Announces Investment in Chinese Education Company VIPKID

VIPKID， the leading online education platform for children in China to learn English through teachers in North America announced it has received investment from the $100 million fund by Bryant Stibel， the venture capital firm. The investment in VIPKID marks Bryant Stibels first ever investment in education， as well as the firms second investment in a Chinese company following their first investment in Alibaba in 2014.

Bryant Stibels co-founders are Jeff Stibel and Kobe Bryant. Jeff Stibel is a brain scientist and entrepreneur， having started numerous technology and marketing companies， and a venture capital investor. At age 32， he became one of the youngest public company CEOs in America and opened the NASDAQ stock market on June 15， 2007. He is also a brain scientist and a New York Times bestselling author.

Kobe Bryant is an American retired professional basketball player and businessman. He played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association（NBA）. He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships with the Lakers. Bryant is an 18-time All-Star， 15-time member of the All-NBA Team， and 12-time member of the All-Defensive team. He led the NBA in scoring during two seasons， and ranks third on both the leagues all-time regular season scoring and all-time postseason scoring lists. He holds the NBA record for the most seasons playing with one franchise for an entire career. At the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics， he won gold medals as a member of the U.S. national team. Sporting News and TNT named Bryant the top NBA player of the 2000s. On August 22， 2016， Kobe along with his business partner Jeff Stibel launched Bryant-Stibel， a venture capital firm focused on different businesses including media， data， gaming， and technology，with $100 million in funding. The pair have already invested in 15 businesses together since 2013.

What is VIPKID

Founded in 2013， VIPKIDs mission is to provide the North American elementary school experience to children in China between the ages of five to twelve years old， all from the comfort of their homes. Headquartered in Beijing， the company offers fully immersive one-on-one English language instruction provided online by the worlds most highly qualified teachers. Curriculum is aligned to U.S. Common Core State Standards and uses a flipped-classroom approach to foster creativity and critical thinking skills. To date， VIPKID has over half a million registered users.

VIPKID matches teachers from North American with Chinese students. Classes are live and one-on-one. Moreover， staying at the forefront of innovation in this industry， VIPKIDs curriculum uses a flipped classroom model and gamified homework to enable true English learning to happen.

Domestic education market will be much， really serious fund founder Xu Xiaoping on the C round of financing conferences online education platform VIPKID said with a smile， Years ago I attended an educational seminar， said that Chinese household spending for a few percent education， I said， Chinese families will go bankrupt allow children to learn.

According to the 2015 China Online Education White Paper show， as more and more venture capital and the influx of online education industry， in 2015 Chinas online education market reached 171.1 billion yuan， online education users exceeded 200 million people， online education number of projects have been over 3000. 86% of parents of preschoolers and 87% of the students parents support children online learning， online education has become a trend.

VIPKID aimed primarily at children aged 5-12 users， it is currently financing the hottest K12 online education. Previously， VIPKID released a set of the latest data， which has 50 million registered users， paid subscribers more than 30，000， with teacher teams from North America， more than 3，000 people， students renewal rate of 95%， is expected by 2017， VIPKID annual income It will reach 20 billion yuan， the number of students in reading up to 20 people.

In December 2013， established two months VIPKID received 3 million angel round of innovation workshops.

In October 2014， was lead investor Matrix Partners China， $ 5 million A round of innovative workshops and Sequoia Capital Syndication financing；

October 2015， by latitude and longitude China， Sequoia Capital and Innovation Works nearly $ 20 million B round of financing；

In April 2016， she was really serious fund replenishment；

In August 2016， he won the Yunfeng Fund， Sequoia Capital $ 100 million Series C round of financing.

VIPKID founder and CEO Miwen Juan said after the C round of financing， the upgrade will be completed in VIPKID teachers， tutorials， and internet experience for the same period. It is noteworthy that， after the financing of road Titanium media reporter combing VIPKID found that they have been for the PE and VC in stars and star institutional investors favored：

Speed Up the Strategic Development of Globalizing

VIPKID is a company that uses the on-demand economy model to connect children in China with teachers in North America， aiming to give children in China a virtual North American elementary school experience. “Their platform is changing things，” Kobe Bryant said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. Bryant said it took him only five minutes of listening about VIPKID to decide he wanted to invest. “Its a no-brainer for me. We have to look for companies adding value to society， helping kids learn and grow.”

“We value Kobe`s influence in the U.S. and around the world，” said Cindy Mi， founder and CEO of VIPKID.“With this investment， we can strengthen the bridging of resources between the U.S. and China and further improve VIPKID`s strategic plans for international development.”

The connection between VIPKID and Bryant Stibel was facilitated by Learn Capital， the Silicon Valley VC firm that is at the forefront of the global educational technology sector. Previously， VIPKID announced a $100 million Series C round led jointly by Sequoia Capital and Jack Mas Yunfeng Capital. Winning support from Bryant Stibel less than a month later establishes VIPKID as an industry leader and global contender in the online education space.

The new funding will accelerate VIPKIDs plans to fuel efforts in curriculum and product development， and maintain its leading position in content， teaching standards， product experience， and service quality. With the company currently hiring over 1，000 instructors a month across North America， the financing will also help grow its network of teachers. Additionally， VIPKID will also speed up the strategic development of globalizing its entire platform.

Investment in Education needs Consideration

Cold in the capital today， there are already a number of online education venture down that this list includes teacher came， 36 classrooms， boat nets and so on. On the other hand， traditional offline foreign language training institutions also focus on developing online business， they have a high visibility and user accumulation， lower development costs， coupled with the slow return on investment online education， institutional investors generally online education investment and financing very carefully.

The use of online learning， students can quickly obtain information and data on the network from a variety of rich media resources.

Executive Director Li Yunfeng Fund believes that investment in education is not an online money wayward things that need consideration， because education related to content， teaching and research， and even feelings of responsibility， the online education does not sound like a particularly speed In- ternet Companies .

Moreover， the education sector as a start-up team founder， Juan Miwen left school at 17， claiming its selfcompleted college， undergraduate and GMAT courses， then won the Cheung Kong MBA， her resume looks， and not the traditional sense， step by step go through the formal education process， good student.

As one of the English education industry giants current New Oriental founder， Xu Xiaoping believes that New Oriental Online education started earlier， a great layout， but did not do a good job has been bigger， a company come to this step， there may be hundreds of times grow， there may be stalled， but also a lot of problem. Visible， tradition- al private education companies， while powerful， but in the training of body mass market power， turn difficult.

Northern Light Venture Capital， founder of Deng Feng believes that people are the most critical factor. He said that the moment a lot of the CEO or the founder of start-up companies do not know how to make good use of resources， institutional investors presentation， but particularly rice Wenjuan ground gas， resource access is maintained and can apply， so investors are willing to help. However， he also slightly worried about the future development of the rhythm of the team， if the expansion is too fast， there may be problems on the management and quality， hold a degree is very important.