Walnut Coding Funding, Investors & Competitors

Walnut Coding has raised $250M across 2 funding rounds, most recently a $200M Series C in March 2021.

Last Walnut Coding funding round

$200M

Series C · Mar 2021

Cumulative funding Walnut Coding raised

$250M

across 2 funding rounds

Key investors in Walnut Coding

  • Source Code Capital
  • Huaxing Growth Capital
  • KKR
  • Hillhouse Investment
  • Vision Plus Capital
  • GL Ventures LLC
  • XVC
  • We Capital

Walnut Coding Overview

About Walnut Coding

Walnut Coding, operating as Hetao101, delivers edtech programs in coding and programming for children aged four to 12. Beijing-based, the platform employs AI-driven online lessons and smart hardware alongside tutor-led sessions to cultivate logical thinking skills via walnut101.com.


Founded

2017

HQ

United StatesLos Angeles, CA

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2C

Revenue model

Subscription

Walnut Coding Funding History

Walnut Coding has raised a total of $250M across 2 funding rounds.

Walnut Coding's first fundraising round was a $50M Series B in October 2019. The most recent completed round was a $200M Series C in March 2021.

Walnut Coding funding rounds

Walnut Coding funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedDeal Summary
Mar 2021Series CGL Ventures LLC (lead); KKR (lead); Vision Plus Capital (lead); Huaxing Growth Capital; Source Code Capital$200MWalnut Education, also referred to as Walnut Coding or Walnut Programming, is a Chinese online coding education platform founded in 2017 that provides technology-driven learning experiences for children. The company raised approximately $200 million in its Series C funding round on March 26, 2021, led by KKR, Vision Plus Capital, and Hillhouse Capital's GL Ventures, with participation from existing investors Huaxing Growth Capital and Source Code Capital. This round supports the company's shift to an 'all in education technology' strategy, focusing on AI teaching products, high-quality teacher recruitment, and advanced teaching and research systems. By March 2021, Walnut Education had accumulated 3.2 million paid users since inception, demonstrating significant market penetration in China's online coding education sector. A Euromonitor survey highlighted the company's dominance, noting that six out of every 10 children learning to code online in China were Walnut Education students. Founder and CEO Zeng Pengxuan emphasized leveraging technology for personalized, large-scale teaching to make high-quality education accessible. KKR's Zhang Yang, head of growth technology investment in Greater China, underscored the rising importance of quality education amid rapid technological and economic development accelerating coding education adoption. The funding enables Walnut to enhance its AI capabilities and teacher resources to serve more students effectively.
Oct 2019Series BHillhouse Investment (lead); Huaxing Growth Capital (lead); We Capital; XVC; Taihecap; United Media FOFs; Source Code Capital$50MWalnut Education, also referred to as Walnut Coding, is a Chinese education company focused on coding training for children aged 6 to 12. Established in 2017, it provides programming education and has expanded to over 30 countries with more than 650,000 students. In October 2019, it completed a $50 million financing round led by Huaxing Growth Capital and Hillhouse Capital, with participation from other investors including Source Code Capital, Taihecap, United Media FOFs, We Capital, and XVC, marking the highest financing amount in the children's programming education sector at that time. The funds are intended to expand the talent pool, upgrade technologies, invest 150 million yuan in AI teaching products, and establish seven teacher pools to enhance teaching quality. The company reported revenue exceeding 100 million yuan during its 2019 summer camp, indicating strong seasonal performance amid growth in the youth coding education market, estimated at 3.1 to 4 billion yuan and projected to reach 8 to 40 billion yuan within five years. A prior Series A+ round in February 2019 raised RMB120 million (about $17.71 million) led by Hillhouse Capital, showing continued investor interest from the lead investors in the 2019 October round.

Who has invested in Walnut Coding?

10 investors have backed Walnut Coding across its funding rounds, including Source Code Capital, Huaxing Growth Capital, KKR, Hillhouse Investment, Vision Plus Capital and GL Ventures LLC.

Lead investors include GL Ventures LLC, KKR, Vision Plus Capital, Hillhouse Investment and Huaxing Growth Capital.


Walnut Coding Investors

Investors in Walnut Coding by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
Huaxing Growth CapitalChinaBeijing2LeadOct 2019
Source Code CapitalChinaChaoyang2ParticipantOct 2019
KKRUnited StatesNew York City, NY1LeadMar 2021
We CapitalChinaGuangzhou1ParticipantOct 2019
XVCChinaBeijing1ParticipantOct 2019
GL Ventures LLCChinaBeijing1LeadMar 2021
TaihecapChinaBeijing1ParticipantOct 2019
Hillhouse InvestmentSingaporeSingapore1LeadOct 2019

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Walnut Coding Competitors

Walnut Coding competitors include listed companies like Duolingo, Graham Holdings, Stride and East Buy, and private ones like Guild and GoStudent.

Public and private companies comparable to Walnut Coding
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
DuolingoUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$1B$152M$6.9B4.9x
Graham HoldingsUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$4.9B$682M$4.8B1.0x
GuildUnited StatesDenver, COPrivate--$4.4B-
GoStudentAustriaViennaPrivate$107M$16M$3.4B-
StrideUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$2.5B$580M$3.4B1.2x
East BuyChinaChinaPublicly listed$850M$98M$3.4B2.8x

Walnut Coding Public Comps

Walnut Coding is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Pearson, New Oriental Education, Duolingo, TAL Education, Laureate Education, Graham Holdings, Covista, Grand Canyon Education, Fibra Educa and Stride.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Pearson$4.8B$1.4B2.4x2.3x8.1x10.4x
New Oriental Education$4.9B$563M1.0x0.8x8.8x5.6x
Duolingo$1B$152M5.4x4.9x37.3x17.9x
TAL Education$3B$700M1.3x1.2x5.7x6.9x
Laureate Education$1.7B$515M3.2x3.0x10.7x9.6x
Graham Holdings$4.9B$682M1.0x1.0x7.3x-
Covista$2B$462M2.5x2.4x10.4x9.1x
Grand Canyon Education$1.1B$306M3.4x3.3x12.4x10.0x

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Common questions about Walnut Coding

When was Walnut Coding founded?Walnut Coding was founded in 2017.
Where is Walnut Coding headquartered?Walnut Coding is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Is Walnut Coding publicly listed?No, Walnut Coding is a private, VC-backed company.
How much funding has Walnut Coding raised?Walnut Coding has raised $250M across 2 funding rounds.
What was Walnut Coding's last funding round?Walnut Coding's last funding round was a $200M Series C in March 2021, led by GL Ventures LLC, KKR and Vision Plus Capital.
Who are Walnut Coding's investors?Walnut Coding's investors include Huaxing Growth Capital, Source Code Capital, KKR, We Capital, XVC, GL Ventures LLC, Taihecap, Hillhouse Investment, Vision Plus Capital and United Media FOFs.
Which companies are comparable to Walnut Coding?Companies comparable to Walnut Coding include Duolingo, Graham Holdings, Guild, GoStudent, Stride and East Buy.

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