Indonesia edtech Cakap raises US$3m in Series A+ funding

JAKARTA-BASED online learning platform Cakap has bagged US$3 million in a Series A+ funding round led by Singapore-based Heritas Capital, to expand across Indonesia and the region.

The round also saw participation from Strategic Year Holdings and other prominent investors, said the startup in a press statement on Wednesday.

Fresh funds will also be used to "invite more leaders and experts" in the education and technology industry to join the company, grow the management team, as well as to advance technological development, Tomy Yunus, Cakap's co-founder and chief executive, told The Business Times.

Formerly known as Squline, the startup develops online learning applications for users to learn a language, using video calls and text conversations to facilitate interactions. The startup said it has already achieved a year-to-date net profit for this financial year, on the back of tailwinds from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Its student numbers have grown about 10 times since the beginning of this year and 30 times compared to the same period last year, it said.

Mr Yunus noted that the key to this was the startup's "deep understanding of the Indonesian education landscape".

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Monday, 3.30 pm

Garage

The hottest news on all things startup and tech to kickstart your week.

Sign Up

"Our solution solves the problem of the lack of access to high quality education... for the whole archipelago of Indonesia - including third tier cities and remote areas," he added.

Charis Goh, director at Heritas Capital, said that "there is no better time to scale", since many Indonesians and students are becoming more Internet savvy day by day.

She noted: "The company offers a compelling impact proposition through providing access to affordable quality education and we look forward to working closely with the team to support the company in its journey to scale education solutions throughout Indonesia."