Yuanfudao
Funding History
| Series E · 05/2017 | $1.0B |
|---|---|
| Series G · 10/2020 | $15.5B |
| Series G Extension · 12/2020 | $17.0B |
About
Yuanfudao is a Beijing-based online education company founded in 2012 by Li Yong, a former NetEase executive, who serves as founder and chief executive officer. The company built a suite of K-12 tutoring, question-bank (Yuantiku) and homework-help products, and by 2020 had grown into the world's most highly valued education-technology company, reaching a $15.5 billion valuation after a $2.2 billion Series G financing round led by Tencent and DST Global in October 2020, followed by a $300 million extension in December 2020 that pushed its valuation to approximately $17 billion.
- CEO
- Li Yong
- Headquarters
- Beijing
- Founded
- 2012
Overview
Yuanfudao is a Beijing-based online education company founded in 2012 by Li Yong, a former NetEase executive, who serves as founder and chief executive officer. The company built a suite of K-12 tutoring, question-bank (Yuantiku) and homework-help products, and by 2020 had grown into the world's most highly valued education-technology company, reaching a $15.5 billion valuation after a $2.2 billion Series G financing round led by Tencent and DST Global in October 2020, followed by a $300 million extension in December 2020 that pushed its valuation to approximately $17 billion.
China's July 2021 "double reduction" policy, which barred for-profit tutoring of core school subjects, forced Yuanfudao to restructure: its headcount fell from roughly 50,000 employees in spring 2021 to about 37,000 within months, and the company pivoted toward new products such as Pumpkin Science, an AI-assisted STEAM learning app for children launched in late July 2021, as it moved away from core K-12 subject tutoring.
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