Qiscus, Indonesia’s answer to Slack, grabs pre-series A funding
Qiscus, a remote collaboration and messaging app made by an Indonesian startup, announced today that it has received a pre-series A investment from a Malaysian investor. Neither the sum nor the name of the investor were made public, though the company stated that the investor is in the telecommunications industry and the sum was close to Qiscus’ previous seed investment of US$100,000.
The app offers features similar to those of Slack, though it claims that one of its core offerings is to make it particularly simple for users to join others in a group chat. Last year, the company announced it was working on security features, so as to make the service relevant for high security sectors such as banks.
Qiscus’ basic service is free, and it offers paid-for packages with additional features such as video calls and email integration for individuals, teams, or large corporations.
Targeting first-timers
Qiscus is created by four co-founders who are based in Yogyakarta and Singapore: Amin Nordin as CEO, Purnama as CTO of products, Delta Purna Widyangga as CTO of enterprise, and Muhammad Md Rahim as CFO. The company’s headquarters are also in Singapore, while the majority of the team resides in Yogyakarta.
“While the investment itself is not much more than we have received previously, the process was very long and complicated,” co-founder Rahim said in a statement.
According to the statement, the investment comes from a Malaysian public district corporation, which means there were many regulations to take into account.
The investment means Qiscus is strategically set up across three countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The startup is part of Indonesia’s GEPI incubator, and its US$100,000 seed round came from an Indonesian investor.
There’s a high degree of competition when it comes to workplace messenger and collaboration tools, not just from established companies like Slack. There is, for instance Pie, from Singapore, which recently raised US$1.2 million.
Qiscus says its strategy will be to target sectors where people have little or no experience with online collaborations tools. Specifically, the company wants to introduce its app to companies in the oil and gas industry, and at universities. Here, the company believes, Qiscus can carve out an advantage, since messaging and collaboration technologies are not yet integrated.
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