Chinese online drawing education startup Meishubao has secured $40 million in its series C+ funding round led by Tencent, which is also behind some of China’s better-known online educators including VIPKid and Yuanfudao.

Investors including Shunwei Capital, BlueRun Ventures and BHG Long Hills Capital Management also participated in the new investment round, which takes the total capital raised by Meishubao to 800 million yuan ($114 million).

The latest funding of Meishubao, whose name means “Art Treasure” in Chinese, takes place against a backdrop of investors showing particular interest in the online education business as the coronavirus pandemic has kept most Chinese schools closed and forced students to take online courses.

Meishubao founder and CEO Gan Ling said in a statement Thursday that the fresh capital will be used for product updates, course development and team building.

Since its establishment in 2014, Meishubao has rolled out a line of products including an online community which helps high school students who are intending to pursue an art degree at university, and online custom-designed painting courses targeted at children aged between 4 and 12. In 2020, the firm cashed in on the big artificial intelligence wave by launching new drawing courses which it says are powered by augmented reality and virtual reality.

Meishubao claims to have served nearly 10 million users across 94 countries and regions, with a faculty of 20,000 art teachers and more than 200,000 active paying users.

Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com)

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