"Shao Nian De Dao" Raises Over 100 Million RMB in Series A+ Round | FreeS Fund Investment News

" Investor Perspective

Jintong Xian, Early-Stage Project Lead, FreeS Fund

Email: jintong@freesvc.com

As coursework becomes more challenging and exams more discriminating, parents and students are increasingly willing to invest time and money in Chinese language education. However, extracurricular Chinese training remains in its early stages, with high-quality offerings still scarce.

We are bullish on the Shao Nian De Dao team's ability to produce premium content: its knowledge publishing unit leverages top content creators to produce high-quality audio content; Zhang Quanling leads a Chinese language teaching and research team that has refined a pedagogical system combining theoretical research with extensive content expertise. Quanling's Chinese Class has posted strong results in its first and second cohorts, with positive feedback from both parents and students.

We believe the team will continue to deepen its curriculum system, converting Shao Nian De Dao's first-mover advantage into brand equity and delivering better Chinese language education products and services to students.

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Recently, K-12 education brand "Shao Nian De Dao" announced the completion of its Series A+ round, raising over RMB 100 million. China Growth Capital led the round, with Everbright New Economy Fund, FreeS Fund, and LightSource Capital participating. Loyal Valley Capital, the lead investor from the Series A round, and existing shareholder Ziniu Fund both made additional investments. LightSource Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for this round.

Shao Nian De Dao officially launched in April 2018 as an app providing learning services for children aged 5 to 15. The company aims to leverage internet technology to give children across all regions access to high-caliber teachers and instructional services — truly enabling "the world's best teachers to serve every single child." Educational equity is the founding mission and driving force behind Shao Nian De Dao.

In less than two years since launch, Shao Nian De Dao has reached over 2 million users, with nearly 1 million monthly active users across all platforms. The company's strong market recognition and rapid growth stem from its precise positioning. The Shao Nian De Dao app is neither a "test-prep cram school" that traps children in cutthroat competition, nor a "super extracurricular book" disconnected from schoolwork. Instead, it closely follows the national school curriculum, extending and expanding on textbook content to cultivate children's core learning abilities and broaden their intellectual horizons — genuinely "helping without adding burden" for teachers and parents.

For example, Quanling's Chinese Class, an online live course developed and taught by Shao Nian De Dao Chairwoman Zhang Quanling, is a Chinese language competency elevation program tailored to the developmental progression of different grade levels. Using the unified national Ministry-compiled Chinese textbook as its primary material, supplemented with required classic literature and essays, the course does not repeat what school teachers cover in class. Instead, through patented learning methods and teaching aids such as the "Storytelling Glove," "Imagination Magic Wand," and "Sunflower Model," it helps children rapidly improve their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in the short term, while achieving substantive leaps in four foundational competencies — learning ability, emotional intelligence, creativity, and critical thinking — over the long term.

In January 2019, when Quanling's Chinese Class launched its Grade 1-2 spring semester live course, 1,500 spots sold out within one hour, with over 4,000 parents joining the waitlist. By September, the fall semester expanded to Grades 1-4, with more than 7,200 students enrolled online. The retention rate for returning spring semester students reached 80%.

Beyond its flagship Quanling's Chinese Class, Shao Nian De Dao has developed extensive audio and video courses designed to expand children's intellectual horizons based on their learning characteristics. Committed to ensuring effective learning while improving efficiency, the company exclusively developed History Story Idiom Class. Fu Mofan, a researcher of ancient Chinese culture and former national college entrance exam grader, selected 180 essential idioms and traced their original sources in classical texts such as Zizhi Tongjian and Shishuo Xinyu, transforming them into vivid historical stories that let children learn idioms while absorbing history — double the returns for the same investment of time.

Currently, Shao Nian De Dao offers over 180 premium courses, including "subject courses" that extend and expand on curricular knowledge points, "classic literature intensive courses" featuring master teachers explaining Ministry of Education required and recommended reading, and "classic literature radio dramas" specially designed for lower elementary students' learning characteristics. Among the most popular courses on the app are Peking University professor Li Pengfei's 200 Lectures on "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", cultural scholar Bao Pengshan's 300 Lectures on "Water Margin", and children's book author Hao Guangcai's Hao Guangcai's Writing Class.