Codemao, a Chinese online education platform that offers computer programming classes to kids, has officially kicked off preparations for an initial public offering on Shanghai’s STAR Market after closing its Rmb400 million ($57 million) series-C funding round on Monday.
In a statement posted on its official WeChat blog, the four-year-old startup said it has already appointed investment banks to prepare for a listing. No timeline was specified, although Codemao chief financial officer Zhang Wei said earlier this year that the company aims to complete the IPO within two years.
Codemao’s total funding to date now surpasses the Rmb1 billion mark in the wake of its latest funding round, which was led by Russia-China Investment Fund.
Other new investors that took part in the series-C funding round include Hillhouse Capital, SAIF Partners China Everbright and Guangdong Technology Financial Group. Existing shareholders like Cheetah Mobile and GreenPine Capital Partners also committed new funds.
The Shenzhen-headquartered startup said it currently offers computer programming classes to more than 31 million students aged four to 16. They include graphical programming, maths programming and Python coding classes.
Codemao claims that some 70% of its tutors graduated from overseas universities and colleges and that its teaching ideas, worksheets and lesson plans are used by more than 11,500 public primary and secondary schools.
Official partners include government bodies like China National Information Technology Standardization Network (NITS), and industry groups such as China Computer Federation, as well as private firms like Japanese tech giant Softbank, British publishing house DK and local publisher Guangdong Education Publishing.
