Chinese Companies From Different Industries Rush Into EdTech
Chinese video platform iQiyi recently launched an app called iQiyi Education and is dedicated to providing children’s animation, audio books and online classes. Gong Yu, the founder of iQiyi, once publicly expressed his optimism about online education. "The Internet will leave few large-scale market spaces for the next 10 or 20 years. Online education is a huge space for development, and it is a particularly good point. "
Tencent Video, along with 41 high-quality institutions, recently launched a 'Having Class at Home' program, aimed at providing over 100 courses free of charge for preschool, primary and secondary school students nationwide.
The COVID-19 has been a strong factor propelling the expansion of China’s online education market. According to iiMedia, the number of online education users in China will reach 446 million by the end of this year. The large market has attracted attention not only from a range of Chinese video giants, including iQiyi, Youku and Tencent, but also from e-commerce giants.
Source : envato
Chinese on-demand delivery giant Meituan has launched a live-streaming toolkit for private educational institutes such as tutoring centres, expanding business further into an online education space. The toolkit aims to help educational institutions leveling up their digital marketing capabilities and precisely target potential consumers within a 5km radius based on the company’s location-based technology.
There is no doubt that the edtech business is one of the hottest investments in China’s post-Covid Internet industry, pulling in more than USD 10 billion of venture funding last year from powerhouses like Alibaba, Tencent, and SoftBank Group. Online education enjoys a large market space and many Internet giants are all vying for a slice of the pie. Given the tough competition, startups may face great challenges in the future, such as how to create innovative business models, accumulate active users and develop innovative technologies. On the other hand, with the big competition between giants as well as escalating crackdown and regulation in China's online education sector, VC investors should also be cautious.
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