Briefing: K-12 education platform Onion Math raises RMB 300 million in Series D

洋葱数学完成3亿元人民币D轮融资，拓科K12英语+语文 – 36Kr

What happened: Online education platform “Yangcong Shuxue,” which translates directly to “Onion Math,” has raised RMB 300 million (around $44.5 million) in a Series D round of financing on Monday, media outlet 36Kr reported. The company will use the proceeds for research and development (R &D) of new classes and technologies. Founded in 2013, Tencent-backed Onion Math features video courses for mathematics and physics and a system where students can test and review what they’ve learned. The platform has raised a total of RMB 600 million since 2014 and is planning to launch “Onion English” and “Onion Chinese.”

Why it’s important: The new round of financing could speed up the launch of other products from the education platform. It could also put the company into competition with other players in the K12 education market such as VIPKID. Different from those platforms, however, Onion Math offers an education suite that puts much less emphasis on teachers. Courses on the platform have narration but use explanatory animations instead of teachers. This strategy is costly at the present stage—R & D of classes and technology account for around 80% of the company’s expenses—but is likely to decline as the company scales.