China’s online education industry has flourished following the government’s relaxation of the One-child policy, with English language providers enjoying robust demand.

One of the companies benefiting from that boom is Alo7, a Shanghai-based platform that offers its proprietary curriculum to language institutes across China.

“We’re a business-to-business player,” Executive Vice President Andrew Shewbart told CNBC on the sidelines of the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in Beijing.

There are 50,000 English training institutes in China, the majority of which are regional players and Alo7 customers, he explained. “I offer online classes to my regional customers in order for them to compete with business-to-consumer offerings.”

And while those regional players are good at teaching, they often lack a large tech department, he noted: “That’s what we do … we leverage AI for computerized adaptive assessment testing.”

It generally takes four to five years to learn English based on Alo7’s program depending on the desired level of confidence, Shewbart said. Beyond that program, the company is looking at developing Mandarin content for Chinese students both in the country and overseas, he added.

Source: cnbc china
How one company is betting on English language classes in China