VIPKID's new brand raises $80 million in fundraising round

Chinese online education startup VIPKID announced on Monday that it has raised $80 million for its large-scale livestreaming course in its series A round of financing.

The subsidiary attracted investors, including Tencent Holdings Ltd, Sequoia Capital China and Heima Zongheng in the new round, which industry insiders noted again bucked up previous rumors on the startup's problems in raising funds.

The fresh fundraising will be used to support the company's livestreaming course in larger class, which was rebranded on Monday as "Dami Online School". Dami literally means "rice" in Chinese.

"An increasing number of students on VIPKID will have higher demands on online education while entering higher grades in school. With the new move, we are exploring a new mode of business to drive a better learning experience for students," said Cindy Mi Wenjuan, founder and CEO of VIPKID.

Unlike its core one-on-one English tutoring, the upgraded course will involve more students, with classes at at lower prices and classes in English and mathematics.

In English for example, Mi noted that the Dami Online School will leverage large classes to teach words and grammar to help improve students' reading and writing ability. Meanwhile, students will be engaged into one-to-six small classes to improve listening and speaking.

"Online education has entered into the second half. One advantage of VIPKID offering a large-scale online class is that it is able to quickly get support from users with its six-year experience in online education," said Zhai Jia, managing director of Sequoia Capital China.