Kinobi, a Singapore-based career preparation platform, has raised $1 million in a seed round led by an Indonesia-based corporate VC firm.
The startup plans to use the fresh funding to reach more university partners in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
Founded in 2020 by Singapore Management University graduates Benjamin Wong, Hafiz Kasman, and Joshua Phua, Kinobi offers its platform through a software-as-a-service model for universities. It currently has 51 university partners across Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. The platform helps college students enter the professional world. Students can use the platform to create a resume, practice for interviews, and increase their knowledge about the career that they want to pursue.
Kinobi aims to bridge the education of the last mile Gen Z youths, helping them through the transition from finishing formal education to beginning a career. Its vision is to be Asia’s largest career accelerator platform for the up and coming Generation Z workforce.
The startup claims to have reached more than 200,000 users, with 300 career coaches that can offer guidance to students. Aside from the three co-founders, it currently has five employees that mostly work in marketing and operations.
Kinobi has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Indonesia Career Center Network, which has more than 200 universities as its members. The company plans to onboard these universities onto its platform in the next three months.
In Indonesia alone, Kinobi has signed with 23 universities to improve their student’s career preparation. This includes top private universities such as Bina Nusantara University (BINUS), Sampoerna University, and London School of Public Relations (LSPR), among others.
