SHANGHAI, China, Sept. 4 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Juren Holdings, Inc., the largest after-school tutoring service provider in Beijing and one of the best known education brands in China, announced today that it has successfully closed its Series A financing of $20 million. Qiming Ventures Partners (“Qiming”) led the round with participation from SIG.
Mr. Xiong Yin, founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of Juren Holding, Inc. (“Juren” or the “Company”), started the business as a guitar teaching school in 1994. Over the last 13 years, Juren has become the largest after-school tutoring service provider in Beijing and is named as “one of the best-known education brands” in China. It teaches lessons in Math Olympiad, Chinese essay composition, English, art, and many other subjects to students aged from 0-18. Juren operates 23 schools and more than 100 learning centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Xi’an, Shijiazhuang, and Zhengzhou. Its annual enrollment exceeded 200,000 in 2006.
Commenting on the Series A financing, Mr. Yin, said, “We are very pleased to have Qiming and SIG as our shareholders, as well as strategic partners, to help us build a nationwide presence and brand. We have been very impressed by Qiming partners’ operating experience and well-rounded expertise in general management, finance, marketing, and IT. We are proud of the fact that we are already the dominant player in the after-school tutoring segment in Beijing. We believe with the investment and expertise from Qiming and SIG, together, we will be one of the largest education providers in China for everyone aged from 0 to 99.”
JP Gan, Managing Director of Qiming Venture Partners, joined the Board of Directors of Juren. Mr. Gan, said, “An average urban family spends more money on education than anything else other than food. We are very excited about the investment opportunities in the education sector and involvement in educating our next generation. We are very impressed by Mr. Yin and his team’s achievements in the last 13 years. In Beijing, it seems everyone with school age children knows Juren and its high-quality of education. We are very pleased with the opportunity to work with Mr. Yin to build a great company.”
About Qiming Venture Partners
Based in Shanghai, Qiming ( http://www.qimingventures.com ) aims to be a premier venture capital firm focused on investments in early stage ventures in China, in partnership with Ignition Partners ( http://www.ignitionpartners.com ). The Qiming team is proven business leaders and venture capitalists with strong operational backgrounds in both the U.S and in China. Qiming seeks investment opportunities in early stage and high growth Chinese companies in the areas of TMT, consumer and healthcare. While striving to be the investor of choice for entrepreneurs, Qiming will also work closely with other leading venture capital firms to deliver the investor value that young Chinese companies require.
