LingoAce, a Singapore-based online Chinese language learning platform, has raised $7 million in Series A funding round to expand its operations.
The startup secured the fund from Shunwei Capital, a Chinese venture capital fund co-founded by Xiaomi founder Jun Lei.
Founded in 2017, LingoAce is a premier provider of online Chinese classes. It helps students aged between 6 and 15 to learn Mandarin online. The startup claims to have nearly 1,000 native speakers teaching from China, serving more than 10,000 students across Asia, North America, and Europe.
LingoAce aims to help make the world a better place through the joy of language learning. It believes that learning Chinese should be more than just learning the language, and provides a platform to explore a whole new culture, imagine new possibilities, and create a lifetime of opportunity.
Speaking about the company, comparing with other language learning platforms, LingoAce’s Founder and CEO Hugh Yao said,
“Our key differentiation is that we are closer to the market to develop and execute appropriate product strategy, while keeping strong supply operation (on the teacher side) in China at same time.”
LingoAce allows students to choose their class time that fit their schedule and learn from anywhere. It offers an authentic classroom experience, with one-on-one private classes, scenario-based teaching models with gamification built right-in, and immediate, in-class feedback and guidance to learners.
The startup plans to use the new funds to expand its operations in Southeast Asia, starting with Indonesia. It claims to have already reached a few customers in Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia as well through its office in Singapore. Besides Singapore, LingoAce also operates in Beijing, Wuhan, and Los Angeles.
Looking ahead, the startup plans to leverage emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality as it sees an uptick in online learning adoption amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, prior to this funding, LingoAce had raised $3 million following an angel round in 2018 and a Pre-series A round with Decent Capital in 2019. The startup said it has witnessed its revenue grow by more than 4X from January to May.
