US coding startup bets big on innovation, localization

US coding startup CodeCombat is betting big on innovation and localization for more market share in China as the young firm scrambles to explore opportunities in the vast Chinese market.

"China now accounts for about 20 percent of our global revenue but, given our growth momentum here in the country, we are eyeing half or even more in the near future," said Wang Chengcang, CEO of CodeCombat China.

The game-focused coding platform enables kids to learn Python and JavaScript through puzzles and challenges. With only five staff in China, it has attracted one million users across 500 schools in the country in less than one year.

"The Chinese coding market is very different from the US one; therefore, we have put a lot efforts into developing some localized features to better meet the demand here," said Wang in an interview at the Global Education Technology conference in November.

Ozaria, CodeCombat's latest product where students must save the world from impending darkness by mastering computational thinking in the game, involves many Chinese elements such as martial arts characters.

"We are also cooperating with the China Center for Information Industry Development, a government think tank under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, where we offer our platform as the match platform for an AI youth competition," Wang said. "It has greatly boosted our user base."

According to market research consultancy iResearch, the coding industry for Chinese children is worth up to 4 billion yuan ($558 million) and that is forecast to increase about tenfold in the next five years.

Nick Winter, co-founder and CEO of CodeCombat, noted that compared with its rivals both from home and abroad, CodeCombat is a combination of both US and Chinese innovations.

Globally, the firm had offered its services to 12 million learners across 190 countries and regions as of November. In China, it partnered with tech giant NetEase in April 2018 to distribute its game across the country.

"As a person who speaks Chinese and has been in China for years, I have some understanding of local culture, which differentiates us from other foreign players in the country," he said.

He added that there are challenges ahead given the differences between the US and Chinese coding markets, but he is optimistic about the development of both the firm and the industry in the nation.