Ruangguru, the Indonesian educational technology startup with a focus on education-based services, confirmed on Thursday that it had raised US$150 million in a Series C financing round led by General Atlantic, a New York-headquartered private equity firm that manages approximately US$35 billion in assets globally, and GGV Capital, a California-based global venture capital firm with a focus on seed-to-growth stage investments, which was also participated by other investors. While various news and media outlets have speculated about the fundraising activity a while ago, Ruangguru had so far refused to comment on the matter until Thursday when it publicly confirmed the Series C funding round. It is also learnt that Ashish Saboo, managing director at General Atlantic Indonesia, will be appointed as the edtech startup’s commissioner as part of the investment deal.
The newly secured funding will enable Ruangguru to further accelerate its expansion in the market of Vietnam, where the Indonesia-based edtech startup operates under the brand name Kien Guru. The aspiring edtech startup selected the country to be its first expansion market because it had identified several key issues, such as the difference in quality of educational facilities between bigger cities and smaller ones, difficulty in accessing good educational content and the unequal distribution of teachers throughout the country, with which it can reliably provide solutions for. According to Kien Guru, the educational app provides a vast library of high-quality online educational content for Vietnamese students, with more than 4,000 video lectures conducted by experienced and dedicated teachers in the education industry and more than 15,000 rich and diverse supplemental educational resources, all available on both desktop and mobile versions.
According to Iman Usman, Ruangguru’s co-founder and chief of product and partnership, the edtech startup is fully dedicated to creating and developing high-quality educational curriculums that make learning an engaging and enjoyable experience for students through the utilization and application of smart artificial intelligence (AI). Through the company’s persistent efforts and commitment, it had successfully penetrated throughout Indonesia such that more than 75 percent of its customer base is now from outside the capital city of Jakarta. Iman Usman added that this demonstrates that their educational services and products have a broad reach and wide adoption rate across the country, and that the company makes sure that their services and products are widely distributed throughout the nation and are not just concentrated in a few major cities.
Founded in 2014 by Iman Usman and Belva Devara, Ruangguru has won several accolades to its name both locally and on the world stage. Some of the prestigious awards that it has brought home include UNICEF Innovation to Watch, the ITU Global Industry Award and Google Launchpad Accelerator. The startup has also partnered with more than 30 of Indonesia’s provincial governments and more than 300 municipal and regency governments in the country in an effort to distribute its edtech services and products throughout the nation. Ruangguru claims to have more than 15 million users and 300,000 teachers under management, providing educational services in more than 100 subject areas.
Ruangguru, the Indonesian edtech startup, is cementing its position as one of the region’s largest edtech ecosystems with its accelerated expansion in Vietnam, which is made possible through the injection of US$150 million in fresh funding from its Series C round led by General Atlantic and GGV Capital. As the aspiring edtech company continues its upward ascent and regional expansion, it may well emerge as one of the region’s next promising unicorns.
