Developer of prominent e-reader mobile app SCOOP, Apps Foundry, announced the second round (Series B) investment from Kompas Gramedia Group through its digital subsidiary, PT Gramedia Digital. This round funding reaches SG$ 3 million (US$ 2.4 million). Kompas Gramedia is the largest Indonesia multimedia publisher with businesses span from print media to radio, TV and digital media. Previously Apps Foundry has raised Series A investment from Gobi Partners and Mitsui Global Investments (MGI).
Willson Cuaca, CEO of Apps Foundry, said, “This strategic investment will strengthen our already leading position in Indonesia e-publishing industry. The money will be used to extend our presence regionally, develop of new products and improve our services to current users. We have a rapid expansion plan in Asia – and our immediate target will be to strengthen our presence in ASEAN countries.”
Commenting on its strategic stake in Apps Foundry, Edi Taslim Kompas Gramedia Digital Group Director said, ”Currently over 90% magazine publishers and 50 daily newspapers in Indonesia, including its exclusive partnership with Kompas daily have joined SCOOP. Over 10,000 ebook titles from 7 Gramedia Book Publishers can also be downloaded. This demonstrates Apps Foundry’s unique and leading position in e-publishing.”
Taslim further added, “As economies across the world become increasingly intertwined as a result of globalization, Kompas Gramedia has to invest in companies that demonstrate multinational competitiveness and/or expansion in the future. While building on our own traditional strengths, we want to minimize risk by staying on top of current trends, We can also take advantage of our parent company’s extensive network of offices and affiliates, to support companies such as Apps Foundry with cross-border expansion in the desired countries or markets in the region.”
About this investment, Ku Kay Mok, partner of Gobi Singapore as early investor, stated, “We were the lead first round investor in Apps Foundry because we realized early on that tablets and smartphones will disrupt the publishing industry due to their reader-like form factors and identified Willson as the best candidate who can create and build the winning platform in this newly emerging e-publishing category. The investment by Kompas Gramedia validated our vision that SCOOP has become the de facto platform in the highly defensible Indonesian market, with which it can use to expand to other Southeast Asian markets. We look forward to welcoming Kompas Gramedia as a strategic partner in the continued evolution of the company.”
Apps Foundry, which was founded in 2010, is headed by CEO Willson Cuaca and has a team of 30 people in Singapore and Indonesia. Apps Foundry’s flagship product – SCOOP is an e-reader application that supports over 20,000 edition of magazines, books and newspaper in its print replica form. Available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, SCOOP delivers over 1.8 million e-publications annually worldwide and this year SCOOP has extended the partnership regionally to work with publishers from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippine, India and Brazil.
SCOOP reveals that 90% of current users come from Indonesia, with 80% of its revenue comes from iOS devices. With this investment, SCOOP will continue to operate independently while Kompas Gramedia will take seats on Apps Foundry’s Board of Directors.
