LingoAce nabs US$7M in Series A funding from Shunwei Capital

Singapore-based online language learning platform LingoAce has received a US$7 million Series A funding from Shunwei Capital, a VC fund co-founded by Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun.

LingoAce CEO and founder Hugh Yao said that the company will focus the funding to expand its operations in Southeast Asia with Indonesia as its first entrance.

According to Tech In Asia‘s report, before this round of funding, LingoAce had earned US$3 million prior to a pre-series A round with Decent Capital last year. In 2018, it also received an angel round.

LingoAce’s main audiences are students aged between six and 15, helping them to learn Mandarin online with nearly 1,000 native speakers teaching from China. Currently, its platform claimed to serve more than 10,000 students across Asia, North America, and Europe.

Next in the pipeline, LingoAce plans to develop technologies such as AI, augmented reality, and virtual reality to adjust with the demand for online learning adoption with COVID-19 pandemic.

Similar to LingoAce, Indonesia has Cakap, an online language course that provides virtual learnings for Japanese, Mandarin, English, and Indonesian, allowing users to access courses with professional teachers and on-demand time schedule. Cakap was founded in 2014 with the initial name Squline, before rebranding to the current name last year.