Targeting Many Schools, Cakap Educational Startup Clinched Series A Funding

Education startup from Indonesia, Cakap, is currently raising funding for the Series A Plus this year. The fresh funds will be used to develop products and expand to more schools. Cakap Co-Founder and CEO Tomy Yunus Tjen said his company wanted to improve the application experience.

Particularly, the company wanted to advance its User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX). “That’s the most important thing for us,” he said in Jimbaran, Bali some time ago. Tomy said that the company would work closely with schools and other educational institutions to increase users.

“Especially in Indonesia, (offline marketing) is still very relevant,” he said. The startup itself offers various educational programs. First, it provides private language classes such as English, Japanese, and Indonesian. Students can learn the four languages ​​online through video and chat features like Skype.

This year, the company will add a new language course as well. Second, it offers the corporate class for employees. “Some of our clients are from hotels, telecommunication companies, the government, and State-Owned Enterprises,” Tomy explained. Third, there is a package consisting of English, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, and TOEFL preparation.

Cakap Offers Various Educational Programs for Users

Next, it offers a study abroad program as well. He said his company recruited local and international teachers from the Philippines, Japan, China, and Indonesia. Some have received certificates and those who have not received too. Certified teachers are intended for private courses.

Meanwhile, those who have not received certificates yet have the task of teaching group courses or via chat. “Our instructors are burdened to partners (institutions). Some of them work together with universities,” he said. Currently, the company partnered with four educational institutions as well.

The educational institutions include the University of Indonesia, Atma Jaya University, Beijing Language College, and Aki No Sora. The company has gained 250 users so far. Cakap also provides live language tutorials through video calls and text conversations. Curriculum and certificates for students are available as well.

“We also have a curriculum and certificates for students who pass the course classes,” he said. There are at least three teaching schemes in Cakap. First, there are one-on-one or private courses. Students can choose the teacher through reviews and ratings in the application here.

Second, there is the Cakap Club or one tutor for many students. One teacher has students in the form of groups. Lastly, there is a chat teaching scheme. It is a conversation feature course from 8 am to 10 pm. “We guarantee, there will be teachers online from our partners.”

Cakap’s Students Can Learn Curriculum Material from the Application

Students can also view and download curriculum material in the Cakap application. “In each phase of the class, the teacher will fill review of the class,” he said. That way, the teacher can examine the things that were taught beforehand. Students can also review what they have learned.

Cakap charges a fee starting from IDR 50 thousand to 1 million per month. “The form (of the charge) is a subscription model. Later students can enter our services every day for a month,” he said. This startup has also been working with the Accessibility and Information Agency (Bakti).

It has been working with Bakti of the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) to develop education in eastern Indonesia. “Thanks to the Palapa Ring, the internet can solve the problem of education in the country,” he said. And eastern Indonesia is no exception.

The Cakap application can be downloaded on the App Store or Google Play Store. They also partnered with payment service providers such as GoPay, OVO, credit cards, and so on. Cakap hooked a financial technology financing company (fin-tech lending) Pintek too. Thus, users can easily take advantage of this platform.