Core K-12 tutoring business banned by the July 2021 crackdown; cut tens of thousands of jobs and pivoted away from for-profit tutoring.
The rise & fall
7 moments Β· 2015β2022
The key moments.
2015
π±
2015
Spun out of Baidu
A homework-help app β 'zuoyebang' means homework helper β becomes an independent company and adds live K-12 classes.
SCMP
2018
π¦
2018
Joins the unicorn club
A mega-round in China's online-tutoring arms race lifts it past $1B, running neck-and-neck with Yuanfudao.
TechCrunch
Dec 2020
Dec 2020
A $2.35B war-chest round
Tiger Global, Alibaba and SoftBank pile into a Series E as pandemic demand for online classes explodes.
TechNode
2021
π
2021
The peak: reportedly ~$10B$10B
On the back of the Series E it enters 2021 as one of the world's most valuable edtech startups.
SCMP
Jul 2021
π
Jul 2021
Regulated out of the club
Beijing's 'double reduction' policy bans for-profit tutoring in core school subjects β Zuoyebang's main business β and bars such firms from raising capital or going public.
SCMP
2021
2021
Tens of thousands of jobs cut
Regional centers shutter and mass layoffs sweep the company and its peers as the sector deflates.
SCMP
How it happened
Zuoyebang ('homework helper') was one of China's two largest online-tutoring unicorns alongside Yuanfudao, offering live K-12 classes and a homework-help app, and was reportedly valued around $10B after raising a $2.35B round in late 2020 from Tiger Global, Alibaba and SoftBank.
China's July 2021 'double reduction' policy banned for-profit tutoring in core school subjects β the company's main business β and barred such firms from raising capital or going public. Zuoyebang shuttered regional centers, cut tens of thousands of jobs alongside its peers, and saw its sky-high valuation collapse as the entire sector was regulated into a different shape.
Source: TechNode / Class Central / SCMP (reportedly valued ~$10B after a $2.35B Series E Dec 2020 backed by Tiger Global, Alibaba, SoftBank; July 2021 'double reduction' crackdown banned for-profit core-subject tutoring; mass layoffs across the sector)
