ByteDance Acquires EdTech Startup NPY, Strengthens its Education Unit
Bytedance has completed its acquisition of mathematical thinking platform NPY, which offers live-streaming and recorded video classes to kids aged 3 to 12 years old. NPY, or NiPaiYi in Chinese, has recieved funding from Zhen Fund, Qiming Venture Capital, Bertelsmann Asia fund and an early investment from K2VC.
Bytedance will support NiPaiYi in terms of technology, branding and capital. At the same time, NPY will continue to operate independently as a brand.
According to sources familiar with the matter, NPY has around 20 to 30 million monthly users. Bytedance’s director in its K-12 education department said, “We are very optimistic about the mathematical thinking track, including the future development of the entire early education industry. NPY’s pursuit of good teachers and research is in line with Bytedance’s, and in the future we will explore more possibilities of teaching mathematical thinking together.”
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After the acquisition, Bytedance will own a full family of K-12 education products including GoGoKid, Guagualong Thinking, Guagualong English, Qingbei Wangxiao, Dali Ketang, AiKid, NPY and Guagualong Chinese. A source told Pandaily that NPY will jointly work with Guagualong Thinking team closely in the fields of early education and enlightenment.
Chinese media Lanjing reported that ByteDance is already in talks with variety shows and other brands in an effort to promote NPY’s brand image and increase its market share.
Education is one of the main new areas of focus for ByteDance. Chen Lin 陈林, former head of ByteDance’s first hugely popular app Toutiao and one of the most respected people in the firm, was named head of the education business in 2018.
