(Yicai Global) Dec. 1 -- LeetCode, a US startup that helps prepare software engineers for job interviews, has secured funding of nearly USD10 million from Lightspeed China Partners.

The proceeds of the Series A fundraiser will go mainly on product upgrades, ecology development, and exploring markets outside of China and the United States, the California-based company said today.

Founded in Silicon Valley in 2011, LeetCode’s questions are widely used in interviews by major internet and tech companies. Demand for its services in China surged in 2018, so it set up a Chinese site to operate independently in the local market.

LeetCode’s products and ecosystem will gradually become the industry benchmark in the technical talent field, said Zhang Yichen, executive director of Lightspeed China. Its evaluation and online interview products have helped many firms hire well, he said.

LeetCode has over 100 million annual code submissions, and roughly half of Chinese programmers are believed to be using the platform, with many colleges and universities using LeetCode questions for auxiliary teaching. In terms of commercialization, the platform has hundreds of paying corporate users, and its annual revenues are more than doubling on average.

The number of Chinese programmers exceeded 7.5 million last year, and it is estimated that China’s pan-programmer community will reach 20 million in 2025, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Leetcode will continue to develop its China operation and develop the gold standard for technical talent selection, according to founder Hercy Chang.

Editor: Tom Litting