Liulishuo Funding, Investors & Competitors

Liulishuo has raised $139M across 3 funding rounds, most recently a $100M Series C in July 2017.

Last Liulishuo funding round

$100M

Series C · Jul 2017

Cumulative funding Liulishuo raised

$139M

across 3 funding rounds

Key investors in Liulishuo

  • GGV Capital
  • Cherubic Ventures
  • IDG Capital
  • Hearst Ventures
  • Trustbridge Partners
  • RTA Capital
  • CMC Capital Group
  • Wu Capital

Liulishuo Overview

About Liulishuo

Liulishuo is a Shanghai-headquartered edtech company founded in September 2012. It provides AI-driven English language learning through its adaptive platform, serving users across hundreds of cities in China and countries worldwide with personalized courses powered by deep learning technology.


Founded

2012

HQ

ChinaShanghai

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2C

Revenue model

Subscription

Liulishuo Funding History

Liulishuo has raised a total of $139M across 3 funding rounds.

Liulishuo's first fundraising round was a $10M Series A in April 2014. The most recent completed round was a $100M Series C in July 2017.

Liulishuo funding rounds

Liulishuo funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedDeal Summary
Jul 2017Series CCMC Capital Group (lead); Wu Capital (lead); Trustbridge Partners; IDG Capital; Hearst Ventures; Cherubic Ventures; GGV Capital$100MLiulishuo (Shanghai Liulishuo Information Technology Ltd) is an education technology company offering English learning apps, with 'English Liulishuo' ranking among top education apps in Apple and major Android stores since January 2017. The company raised funding in July 2017 led by CMC Capital Group and Wu Capital, with participation from Cherubic Ventures, GGV Capital, Hearst Ventures, IDG Capital, and Trustbridge Partners. For the full year 2017, Liulishuo reported net revenues of 165,153 (in thousands, equating to $165 million USD), with a net loss of 170,886 (thousands).
Jul 2015Series BTrustbridge Partners; Cherubic Ventures; GGV Capital; RTA Capital; IDG-Accel China Growth Fund$29MLiulishuo (also known as LAIX) is a Chinese edtech company offering an AI-powered English learning app focused on oral practice and conversational skills. The company was established in 2013 and raised a total of $129.9M across 6 funding rounds, with the latest being a take-private in October 2022. In 2018, Liulishuo debuted on the NYSE under ticker LAIX, raising up to $71.9M, far short of its $300M target at a planned $2B valuation, with shares fluctuating from $12.50 opening to $12.65 close amid competitive edtech pressures. The platform had amassed over 80M registered users and 1M paid users by June 2018. Liulishuo leverages AI technologies such as automatic speech recognition (ASR) and natural language processing (NLP) for English learning, competing in China's vast K-12 and online education market valued at hundreds of millions and projected to grow significantly.
Apr 2014Series AIDG Capital; Hearst Ventures; Cherubic Ventures; GGV Capital; RTA Capital$10M-

Who has invested in Liulishuo?

9 investors have backed Liulishuo across its funding rounds, including GGV Capital, Cherubic Ventures, IDG Capital, Hearst Ventures, Trustbridge Partners and RTA Capital.

Lead investors include CMC Capital Group and Wu Capital.


Liulishuo Investors

Investors in Liulishuo by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
Cherubic VenturesTaiwanTaipei3ParticipantApr 2014
GGV CapitalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA3ParticipantApr 2014
Trustbridge PartnersUnited StatesBoston, MA2ParticipantJul 2015
IDG CapitalChinaBeijing2ParticipantApr 2014
Hearst VenturesUnited StatesNew York City, NY2ParticipantApr 2014
RTA CapitalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2ParticipantApr 2014
Wu CapitalChinaBeijing1LeadJul 2017

This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 9 Liulishuo investors.

Start Free Trial

Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples

Sign up to see data on 350K+ funding rounds and disclosed revenue and EBITDA valuation multiples, from seed, through growth stage, to pre-IPO.

Start Free Trial

Liulishuo Competitors

Liulishuo competitors include listed companies like SAP and Snowflake, and private ones like Zuoyebang, BetterUp, Anthropic and OpenAI.

Public and private companies comparable to Liulishuo
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
ZuoyebangChinaBeijingPrivate$33M-$10B-
BetterUpUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate$100M-$4.7B47.0x
AnthropicUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate$47B-$965B20.5x
OpenAIUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate$25B-$852B34.1x
SAPGermanyGermanyPublicly listed$42B$13B$248B5.4x
SnowflakeUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$4.7B($1.3B)$119B21.0x

Liulishuo Public Comps

Liulishuo is still privately-owned, but its public comps include CrowdStrike, SAP, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Snowflake, Adobe, Datadog, Moody's, Nebius Group and Workday.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
CrowdStrike$4.8B($12M)51.4x44.5x(19816.2x)151.0x
SAP$42B$13B5.8x5.4x18.4x17.1x
Salesforce$42B$13B5.5x5.2x17.8x12.2x
ServiceNow$13B$2.6B11.1x9.6x57.2x25.0x
Snowflake$4.7B($1.3B)25.6x21.0x(94.1x)121.7x
Adobe$24B$9.3B4.3x3.9x10.9x8.2x
Datadog$3.4B($588K)23.6x19.4x(137813.0x)77.6x
Moody's$7.7B$3.8B11.2x10.6x22.5x20.1x

This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Liulishuo competitors and their valuation data.

Start Free Trial

Common questions about Liulishuo

When was Liulishuo founded?Liulishuo was founded in 2012.
Where is Liulishuo headquartered?Liulishuo is headquartered in Shanghai, China.
Is Liulishuo publicly listed?No, Liulishuo is a private, VC-backed company.
How much funding has Liulishuo raised?Liulishuo has raised $139M across 3 funding rounds.
What was Liulishuo's last funding round?Liulishuo's last funding round was a $100M Series C in July 2017, led by CMC Capital Group and Wu Capital.
Who are Liulishuo's investors?Liulishuo's investors include Cherubic Ventures, GGV Capital, Trustbridge Partners, IDG Capital, Hearst Ventures, RTA Capital, Wu Capital, CMC Capital Group and IDG-Accel China Growth Fund.
Which companies are comparable to Liulishuo?Companies comparable to Liulishuo include Zuoyebang, BetterUp, Anthropic, OpenAI, SAP and Snowflake.

See companies similar to Liulishuo

Start Your
Free Trial Today

Try Multiples for free for 3 days. Got questions or need a demo? Schedule a call with us below.

Start Trial