Yuanfudao becomes world's most valuable education unicorn

Yuanfudao, China's online education startup, announced it has raised a total of $2.2 billion in its series G1 and G2 financing, making it the most valuable educational technology unicorn globally.

The G1 round was led by tech giant Tencent Holdings, with participation from Hillhouse Capital, Boyu Capital and IDG Capital. The G2 round was led by DST Global, with investors including CITIC Private Equity Funds Management Co, GIC and Temasek joining in.

With the fresh fundraising, the company's valuation reached $15.5 billion, which means it has topped other educational technology companies and become the most valuable unicorn worldwide.

"After the new financing, Yuanfudao will continue to invest into technology innovation in the education sector, research and development of new courses and expansion of online education portfolios," the company said.

Yuanfudao, founded in 2012, leverages technology to promote high-quality education with its online learning products including livestreaming tutoring platform Yuanfudao, Zebra AI Class, online question bank Yuantiku, question searching app Xiaoyuan Souti and arithmetic problem checking app Xiaoyuan Kousuan.

In July, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee announced Yuanfudao as an official sponsor of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. This will be the first time an online education company will be sponsoring the Olympics.