VIPKID : Facilitating teaching English courses to kids

Startup Idea and Innovation of VIPKID

VIPKID is a company that helps bridge the distance gap between instructors and teachers in North America and learners all across the globe. Its main goal is to provide an international learning experience, especially to learners in China who are between 4 and 12 years old.

The platform enables personal English language learning using various tools with the help of qualified instructors. It utilizes the flipped-classroom method to engage students and encourage their imaginative and critical side.

Preply Innovation and Startup Idea

Lessonly :

The platform has teachers from the United States and Canada, who have bachelor’s degrees and years of experience. VIPKID has facilitated more than 200 million online English classes through its research-backed curriculum. The company has offices in Beijing and San Francisco.

Startup Timeline and History of VIPKID

2013 – VIPKID was founded by Cindy Mi, Jessie Chen, and Victor Zhang. It also received funding during a seed round.
2014 – The company acquired capital during an early-stage venture capital investment.
2015 – Another early-stage VC funding was held where the company received funds.
2016 – An early-stage round resulted in additional funds. Two later-stage VC rounds were held, both of which provided more capital for the company.
2017 – The company received funds during the Series D later-stage VC.
2018 – The Series D1 later-stage VC resulted in additional funds for the company.
2019 – The Series E later-stage VC provided more funds for the company.

Founder and Key People

Cindy Mi

Cindy Mi is a founder and Chief Executive Officer of VIPKID. She previously worked as a Corporate Development Internship at Baidu, Associate Internship at Houlihan Lokey, and Co-founder at ABC English Language Training Institute.

She obtained her Master in Business Administration degree at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. She also studied as an MBA Exchange student at Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Jessie Chen

Jessie Chen is a Co-Founder of VIPKID. She deals with the supply side of the operation and manages the design team of the company. She obtained her Master of Technology degree from Beijing Jiaotong University.

Her skill set includes public speaking, teaching, English-as-second language, management, curriculum design, research, and e-learning, among others.

Victor Zhang

Victor Zhang is a Co-Founder of VIPKID. He worked concurrently as a Project Manager at Zgzyz.or.cn and Jingwei.com. After this, he served as a Marketing Director at Xhaopin.com, and VP Marketing and Operation at baicheng.com. His contribution to the company is on the digital marketing side.

Funding Sources and Financial Profile

VIPKID obtained a total of $1.1 billion through a series of 10 funding rounds. It has 6 lead investors out of 12 investors in total. Some of its investors are Tencent, Sequoia Capital China, Northern Light Venture Capital, Sinovation Ventures, YF Capital, and Matrix Partners.

It participated in different funding rounds including an Angel and Seed Round in 2013, and various Series over the next few years. It raised the largest capital during the Series D round in 2018 where it obtained $500 million.