Indonesian online language learning platform Cakap has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Indonesia Impact Fund (IIF), the first ESG-compliant private impact fund managed by Mandiri Capital Indonesia.
Cakap is the first investment by IIF. Backed by several Indonesian family offices and private institutions, IIF works in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme. The fund, which focuses on public-private partnerships, is said to be the first Indonesian private impact investment fund that is compliant with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.
Founded in 2013, Cakap is created to reinvent the language-learning experience. It develops online learning applications that enable two-way interaction between students and professional teachers through video calls and text conversations. The platform empowers learners on their customized path to fluency in a 6-12 month time period through live instruction with native-speaking teachers and multimedia learning materials.
While the English language is its primary focus, Cakap also offers Mandarin, Japanese, and Indonesian classes on its platform.
Commenting on how the new funding will help the company, Tomy Yunus, Co-founder & CEO of Cakap, said in a statement,
“The additional strategic investment will bolster our expansion goals by allowing the country to access high-quality education, particularly in lower-tier cities, which is in line with Cakap’s mission to elevate Indonesian peoples’ lives.”
Joshua Agusta, Mandiri Capital venture fund director, who has been appointed as IIF manager and partner, said,
“Non-formal education is a big market with untapped potential in Indonesia. We believe that by investing into a company like Cakap, our fund will contribute to bridging the language proficiency gap in Indonesia and improving public welfare in the long run.”
Cakap has last raised $10 million in December last year in a Series B round co-led by Heritas Capital and Centauri Fund, a growth-stage fund jointly launched by KB Financial Group’s KB Investment and Telkom Group’s MDI Ventures. Before that, the Jakarta-based company has raised $3 million in its Series A+ funding round led by Heritas Capital with participation from Strategic Year Holdings and existing investors InvestIdea Ventures and Prasetia Dwidharma.
