LingoAce, a global EdTech company and leading Chinese language learning platform, has raised $105 million in its Series C funding round led by Sequoia Capital India.
Other investors including Owl Ventures, Shunwei Capital, and SWC Global also participated in the round.
With the new funding, the Singapore-based company said that it has raised $160 million this year. The latest funding comes less than a year after the company had raised an undisclosed $55 million Series B round led by Tiger Global and Owl Ventures.
Founded in 2017, LingoAce is a premier language learning platform that helps students aged between 6 and 15 years old to learn Mandarin Chinese online by creating a fun and engaging educational experience for the learners. It has a team of in-house curriculum specialists who tailor globally-accredited syllabus in line with China and Singapore’s education ministries. The startup claims to have more than 4,000 professionally-certified teachers on its platform and delivered lessons to global students across 100 countries and regions.
LingoAce 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. The platform harnesses the capabilities of passionate teachers along with research-backed digital content, featuring animation, gamification, and artificial intelligence to effectively deliver authentic and interactive online Chinese language lessons.
Commenting on the development, Hugh Yao, Founder & CEO of LingoAce, said,
“At LingoAce we believe that the opportunity to learn a new language can unlock a world of possibilities for children. With the backing of our investors, we plan to continue to scale our platform to reach more audiences and ensure that more children across the globe will continue to have access to quality online educational experiences.”
Per a statement, the new funding will be used to advance the company’s mission to make new language learning fun, immersive, and interactive for children. LingoAce also plans to grow its global team to strengthen both curriculum and product development, and to scale sales and marketing support.
Abheek Anand, Managing Director at Sequoia Capital India, said,
“The demand for virtual learning across the world has increased due to the pandemic, and LingoAce’s strong curriculum, innovative digital content and platform, and talented team of teachers and executives have helped to drive impressive business growth and user acquisition during this time. As they look to expand beyond Mandarin Chinese and continue to scale globally, Sequoia Capital India is excited to deepen the partnership with Hugh Yao and his team.”
As part of the funding rounds, Abheek Anand, Managing Director at Sequoia India, and Ian Chiu, Managing Director at Owl Ventures, will join the board of LingoAce. Dennis Yang, the former CEO of Udemy, has joined as a member of the company’s advisory board as well, according to a press release.
While LingoAce has built its industry leadership on its Mandarin Chinese offering, the Singapore-headquartered company also plans to further develop new English language programs and explore other subjects to meet the continuing demand for education globally.
With the new funding, LingoAce has raised a total of $180 million to date. Earlier, LingoAce had raised $7 million Series A in June 2020 and $6 million in Series A+ in November the same year.
