Edtech unicorn Yuanfudao taps into outerwear industry and others amid “double re...

Edtech unicorn Yuanfudao taps into outerwear industry and others amid “double reduction” policy

Edtech unicorn Yuanfudao taps into outerwear industry and others amid “double reduction” policy

2 hours ago

Edtech company Yuanfudao was preparing for a down jacket production team, a recent report by Chinese media LatePost said. Today, this plan was clarified by TMT Post: the managing team of its fashion brand functions in small size of no more than 4 headcounts.

In the meantime, Yuanfudao has set up a new company called Feixiang Planet (飞象星球), aiming to provide tutoring platforms and products to Chinese governments and schools. This marks a significant strategic transition from business-to-customer (B2C), to business-to-business (B2B) model.:

By establishing Feixiang Planet, Yuanfudao is making efforts to satisfy the needs from a batch of scenarios at school and hopes to balance the educational resources and offer personalized study experiences, the news report by TMT Post says.

The report says an employee of Yuanfudao confirmed that the new businesses will soon expand to other cities in the country.

Founded in 2012, Yuanfudao is a homework online tutoring service firm. With a paying userbase of over 1 million, it offered a comprehensive curriculum spanning from primary school English, Mathematical Olympiad to all-subject courses in secondary school.

Their products include live tutoring platform, an online Q&A arm and a math problem-checking arm.

Yuanfudao has raised a total of $4.1 billion in previous over 11 rounds of financing. The company is backed by Tencent and just secured $300 million from Yunfeng Capital in Series G round last December. It was valued at $17 billion at that time, surpassing Byju’s as the most valuable edtech company in the world.

However, in July this year, China unveiled new reforms aimed at the country’s education and after-school tutoring sectors. Known as shuangjian, or the “double reduction” policy, the reforms are meant to reduce the burdens on students and parents alike.

According to the new guideline by Chinese regulators, businesses offering curriculum classes on weekends and holidays are only permitted to provide tutoring on weekdays with a limited number of hours, and they are not allowed to provide such services at any time during summer and winter breaks, China Daily reported.

Excessive tutoring is regarded as one of the reasons for the decline in birth rate because it increases the burden on families and students.

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