Private Mandarin tutors are up for hire with China’s Uber-style service
A Chinese education technology start-up partly backed by retired NBA player Kobe Bryant has launched an on-demand platform for foreign kids to learn Mandarin from Chinese teachers
VIPKid, a Chinese education technology start-up backed by a long list of high-profile investors, including Tencent Holdings and retired NBA legend Kobe Bryant, has launched a Uber-style online education service to tap into the rising demand of learning Mandarin overseas.
The Beijing-based company officially launched on Wednesday an online platform, which allows children across the world to learn Mandarin as and when they need via video conferencing-like one-on-one sessions taught by qualified teachers in China.
The new service comes amid China’s rising status on the global stage, and would allow Chinese teachers to earn additional income during their spare time, according to VIPKid.
The platform named Lingo Bus is the latest globalisation step made by VIPKid, which announced on Wednesday a funding round of US$200 million, the largest in its sector in the world, led by Sequoia Capital and joined by strategic investor Tencent Holdings, along with others.
Founded in 2013 and formally known as Future VIPKid, the company has built a rapidly growing business with more than 200,000 child users, mostly Chinese, using its service to learn English at home from more than 20,000 North America-based instructors.