Meishubao Education, a Tencent-backed Chinese online art education platform, announced on Thursday the
completion of a Series D round of financing at $210 million led by US-based private equity (PE) firm TPG’s global
impact investing platform The Rise Fund.
A group of Chinese investors including Shenzhen-based venture capital (VC) firm Fortune Capital; Winsdom Capital,
which invests in education, finance, and healthcare; Asia-focused SAIF Partners; Bojia Capital; and Chuangzhi
Capital participated in the investment, according to a statement.
Beijing-based investment bank Taihecap served as the exclusive financial advisor of the deal.
“Inclusive education is one of the key areas of The Rise Fund’s social impact investment, and interactive education is
an integral part of getting closer to that objective,” said Sun Chang, managing partner of TPG China, in the
statement.
Sun oversees the investment activities of TPG and its Rise Fund in China.
The company “leverages technologies to effectively expand the breadth and depth of art education,” said Sun. “This
model not only provides more interactive education opportunities for children — including those in rural areas —
but also builds a larger platform for art educators to demonstrate their value.”
Founded in 2014, Meishubao delivers online art courses to over 5 million registered users, of which more than
500,000 are paying users, across about 160 countries and regions worldwide. The firm now has a team of nearly 1,000
R&D and production staff. Its online platform connects over 20,000 professional teachers, giving classes to users
largely aged between three and 18.
Gan Ling, founder and CEO of Meishubao, said in the same statement that the new proceeds will be used for
curriculum development, channel and market expansion, product and service upgrades, branding, as well as online
and offline business integration in the industrial internet area.
The Series D round follows the completion of Meishubao’s Series C round in July 2020. That round comprised two
tranches of capital injections, including a $40-million Series C1 round in June 2019 and a $40-million Series C2
round this July. Both of the two tranches were led by Chinese gaming and social networking firm Tencent.
Beijing-based Meishubao, which also counts Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun-backed Shunwei Capital and early-stage VC
BlueRun Ventures among its earlier investors, has by far raised a total of 2 billion yuan ($306.2 million) across seven
rounds.
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