College Daily, a platform that provides information for overseas students, confirmed that it has received RMB 10 million (USD 1.5 milion) in Pre-A Series financing to expand its businesses.
Founded in 2013, the platform targets students in North America, providing them with information on college applications, living abroad and career development on its official website and WeChat account. It has confirmed that it closed a round of Pre-A Series financing last December, Chinese tech media outlet 36 Kr reported on Thursday.
This round of financing was led by Zhan.com, a site that helps students with the exams they need to study overseas, followed by returning investors including Dealmoon.com, a shopping guide providing coupons and deals which started out by marketing to Chinese Americans.
The company’s CEO Timothy Lin said this round of financing will be used to develop its new media and publishing businesses. They plan to follow The Princeton Review’s business model to provide school rankings and other information using its new media and publishing arms.
College Daily plans to launch an English website in mid-2016 and release an app called “Study Abroad Daily” in March. It is in the process of launching a talk show that invites experts to discuss trendy topics surrounding overseas study. The show will be broadcast on popular video platforms like Youku, Tencent and LeEco every weekend.
The company plans to publish books about studying overseas and exam preparations. It will publish its first book with Zhan.com in June.
Unlike other sites, which mainly focus on providing school-related information and helping students pass exams, College Daily also provides cultural information on life overseas, with content about food, lifestyle, and what Chinese students think of American culture. It is dedicated to providing professionally generated content (PGC).
“We have strict quality standards and try to provide the most valuable reports and information for those studying abroad and those who are interested in the subject,” said Lin.
The platform’s main source of income comes from advertisement and sales from offline events. Lin said that College Daily now has 600,000 users on its new media platform and one million general users.
(Top photo from Baidu Images)
