Innovation: Yuanfudao's MARS AI model ranked first place in the 2018 MS MARCO NPL (Microsoft MAchine Reading Comprehension Natural Language Processing) test, exceeding other teams from tech giants like Baidu and Microsoft. Owns 17 patents for invention
Branding: Yuanfudao's brand is synonymous with AI and the frontier of high technology. Parents want the best for their children, and Yuanfudao has a proven track record of demonstrating they offer the most innovative solutions in the EdTech space.
Pricing: An aggressive pricing strategy that not only undercuts close competitors, but also extends their market reach to second and third-tier cities in China.
Data: As China's leading EdTech platform with the largest user base, Yuanfudao also boasts the largest amount of user data, including student profiles and academic data. This data is invaluable in continual developments of their AI model and application features.
Government Regulation: Like most of China's tech space, it is fairly safe to say that China's online education market is well protected from foreign competition.
Shareability: There are currently little to no measures that prevent users from sharing access to Yuanfudao educational content.
Quality of Teachers: As a result of new regulations, certified teachers in China are prohibited from being privately employed outside of school hours. As good teachers are the core of Yuanfudao's tutoring services, attracting and conserving high quality teaching staff may be an issue as the company expands.
Limited Scope: Although global expansion is not likely part of Yuanfuado's short or long term strategy, it is worth mentioning that business model and data is limited to the Chinese market.
COVID-19: As indicated in a Statista report, the share of online education within the total education market in China has more than doubled from 5% (2019) to 12% (2020).
Market Growth: Despite a recent slowing of China’s economy, the country’s online K-12 education market is set to triple to 150 billion yuan (US$22.33 billion) by 2022
Metaverse: As developments in technological trends such as the Metaverse, augmented and virtual reality mature in the education space, this serves as a prime opportunity for Yuanfudao to expand its suite of offerings.
Well-rounded education: As a response to Beijing's recent "EdTech crackdown", Yuanfudao is beginning to transition away from banned subject-specific training by offering its newest application Pumpkin Science (a STEAM-focussed application that promotes well-rounded education).
Government Regulation: It can be argued that China's after-school education market is fuelled by a "tiger mom" mentality, stereotypically competitive East Asian mothers that push their children to high levels of achievement. Beijing's recent efforts to curb these negative social effects were to implement tighter regulations on the private education sector, including: conversion to nonprofit status, banning of core-curriculum tutoring during weekends and vacations, and the hiring of foreigners to teach remotely.
Digital Challenges: Currently, video-conferencing is not at a stage that can compete with face-to-face education, especially in the primary grade levels. Furthermore, there are the various health and social concerns that are associated with extended screen time.