Chinese music education platform VIP Peilian snags $150m Series C

Photo by Clark Young/Unsplash

By Ka Kay Lum

November 5, 2018

Chinese online music education platform VIP Peilian announced that it has raised $150 million for its Series C round led by Tiger Global, it said in an announcement on November 2.

Other investors that participated in the round include existing backers Tencent Holdings, Orchid Asia, GSR Ventures and Bluerun Ventures. According to a report by 36Kr, the funding round is the largest raised in the music education sector in China.

“VIP Peilian hopes to make every practice count. We will continue to leverage artificial intelligence and data to enable more students, parents and teachers in the music education segment,” said VIP Peilian founder and CEO, Ge Jiaqi.

He added that VIP Peilian’s monthly revenue has exceeded RMB80 million ($11.61 million) and revenue for 2018 is expected to be RMB500 million ($72.56 million).

GSR Ventures managing director Allen Zhu commented: “The entry point of VIP Peilian is very good. Practicing is the biggest pain point of music learning. This demand is very rigid and ‘painful’ enough. The team and the product have improved rapidly so we believe that there is still huge room for growth in the music education market.”

Founded in 2014, VIP Peilian provides one-to-one online music tutoring services for children between age 5 to 16. It claims to have more than 500,000 users on its platform, which is available in 33 countries. The platform raised a Series B round this January, and the amount raised is said to be about RMB200 million ($29 million).

Also read:

China Digest: Tencent invests in Peilian.com; Xinshang raises $50m

China: Tencent-backed education startup VIPKID bags $500m Series D+

 

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In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
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