Entrepreneur builds business out of teaching his kid Chinese, now Sequoia and Tiger Global are backing it

HUGH Yao didn't mean to become a founder when he moved his family from Beijing to Singapore nearly a decade ago.

Back then, he was tasked by Oracle to relocate to the city-state and help manage the Asia-Pacific business. Yao saw it as an opportunity to expose his 3-year-old son to an environment that combined the cultures of the East and the West.

But he ended up joining the club of worried parents as his son adopted English as his preferred language, while his Chinese whittled away. It turned out chances to practise Chinese were limited in an international school.

These struggles became the inspiration for Yao to build an online platform in 2017 that teaches the difficult language using a mix of live tutoring, games and animation. His son was the platform's first user.

Today, the company, LingoAce, has some of the most prominent names in venture capital backing it. This year, it raised US$160 million over 2 funding rounds to expand internationally.

"I really thank the fact that we started our business in Singapore because it gave us access to different communities... from day one, we understood that their learning expectations are very different," Yao said in an interview.

LingoAce's programmes are tailored for different demographics. There's one for first-generation immigrant families and another for those without a Chinese heritage, for instance. "That's why when we expand into new regions, we don't need to redevelop our content," Yao said.

The startup's US$105 million Series C funding round was led by Sequoia Capital India. Silicon Valley-based edtech investor Owl Ventures joined the round, as did China's Shunwei Capital - founded by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun - and SWC Global.

The round was closed less than a year after a US$55 million Series B round led by Tiger Global and Owl Ventures, LingoAce said.

Interest in edtech reached new heights during the pandemic as global populations shifted to remote learning. US-based Tiger Global ploughed millions into India's Classplus, Indonesia's Ruangguru and US's GoGuardian.

In South-east Asia, the sector is growing amid rising Internet penetration and education levels. A report from Google, Temasek and Bain said about US$200 million in edtech funding was raised across 74 deals in the first half of 2021, surpassing the 49 deals in H1 2020 and on track to beat the approximate US$250 million raised in the whole of 2020.

LingoAce said bookings, which refer to upfront payments made by customers, grew nearly 4,000 per cent globally since the end of 2019, propelled by the pandemic. In South-east Asia, the company said it has grown more than 2,000 per cent since 2020.

Over 4,000 native-speaking professionally-certified teachers from China run LingoAce's classes, which cater to learners aged 3 to 15 years. The startup has in-house game developers and education specialists working on its platform.

It is on a hiring push across North America - its largest market - Europe and South-east Asia. In Singapore, LingoAce more than doubled its headcount this year from 60 employees at the end of 2020. It hired former Goldman Sachs executive Marshall Roslyn and Uber's former associate general manager based in Singapore, Goh Aik Chuan.

As part of the funding rounds, Abheek Anand, managing director at Sequoia India and Ian Chiu, managing director at Owl Ventures, will join LingoAce's board.

Yao said the company is expanding into providing English-language education as well.

"I was born in China but I live in Singapore and I can speak English. I worked with multinational corporations and I started my own company," said Yao.

"I believe language can really open up an individual's career and friendships and their view of the world. That's why teaching our young kids a new language - no matter English or Chinese - is very important for their future. That always inspires me."