Fenbi
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Fenbi Technology Ltd. (粉笔, 'chalk') is a Chinese vocational-education platform offering online courses and tuition for civil-service and professional exams. It was hived off from online-learning unicorn Yuanfudao in 2020 — Yuanfudao itself was fatally hit by China's 2021 tutoring crackdown — and sought fresh capital in the still-supported adult-education market. After a lapsed first attempt, Fenbi refiled and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January 2023 with Citigroup, CICC, and Bank of America Securities as joint sponsors. But its narrow market deteriorated: revenue fell from 3.02 billion yuan in 2023 to 2.79 billion in 2024 and 2.68 billion in 2025, monthly active users declined from 9.3 million to 8.5 million, headcount dropped from over 7,000 to 5,963, and the company posted its first loss since going public in the first half of 2026.
02 / Fenbi FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Fenbi's core business proved structurally fragile: it operates in one narrow market — exam-prep for China's civil-service recruitment — where fewer government job openings mean fewer candidates see a return on the time and money spent preparing. Competition intensified as small institutions and independent instructors on Douyin and Xiaohongshu undercut Fenbi's pricing, eroding the pricing power of even the largest players. Its online-first model, once a scale advantage, became the easiest to copy. The slide was gradual — revenue and profit declining every year since the 2023 listing — and the company also embarrassed itself by publicly boasting about stock-trading profits while quietly realizing an 8.3 million yuan investment loss in July 2026.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Spun off
Fenbi was hived off from Yuanfudao in 2020 to focus on adult vocational education as the K-12 tutoring business faced regulatory doom.
- Crackdown fallout
China's tutoring crackdown shattered the private education sector; Yuanfudao was fatally hit while Fenbi pivoted to the still-supported adult-education market and laid off more than 9,400 employees.
- IPO
Fenbi listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January 2023 with Citigroup, CICC, and Bank of America Securities as joint sponsors.
- Revenue decline
Revenue fell to 2.79 billion yuan in 2024 from 3.02 billion in 2023 as civil-service exam demand weakened and cheaper competitors undercut pricing.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Fenbi was hived off from Yuanfudao in 2020 to focus on adult vocational education as China's tutoring crackdown loomed.
- 02
After the 2021 crackdown decimated K-12 tutoring, Fenbi pivoted to the still-supported adult market, laying off more than 9,400 employees, and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January 2023.
- 03
Revenue declined every year after listing — 3.02 billion yuan in 2023, 2.79 billion in 2024, 2.68 billion in 2025 — as fewer government job openings shrank demand and cheaper competitors undercut pricing.
- 04
The company posted its first loss since going public in the first half of 2026, with MAU down to 8.5 million and headcount cut to 5,963.