It seems that more and more Indonesia’s local startups attract the attention of global investors as time goes by. Just take a look at Kurio smart news reader which has just sealed a majestic funding from Japan-based Cyber Agent Ventures and a number of angel investors. We call it majestic as the funding involves millions in US Dollars, which means billions in Indonesian Rupiah. What makes Kurio different from other similar platforms is that it may adjust the news to read with its users’ preference.
This app was firstly established in the end of 2013 and, since then, has been downloaded thousands of times and rated 4-stars at both Google Play and Apple Store. Right from the start, the developer of Kurio has indeed never stopped attempting to assure its users’ convenience, especially those who are left-handed, by providing them pretty yet convenient features.
Further, the users may not only follow their own preferred news categories, but also news which are beneficial for their career, i.e the ones about digital marketing, UI/UX, product development, marketing development, media marketing, and many more.
Unlike Flipboard which has a magazine-like navigation, Kurio offers a very simple navigation which is located on the right corner of the screen and manages pretty much everything, from selecting preferred topic to choosing the news to read. Kurio also offers a night mode feature to avoid users from getting tired after reading at night. Unfortunately, this exceptional feature can only be used to read articles.
Kurio is the fifth to get funded by CAV, after Tokopedia, Bilna, VIP Plaza, and Touchten gaming company. “I personally dreamed of getting invested by Cyber Agent and started to make an intensive approach after its prototype was established. When I presented about Kurio, they gave me a yes. That’s something that I respect about, that they could see our long-term vision since the beginning,” David Wayne Ika, Kurio’s Founder, stated.
“A representative of Cyber Agent Ventures will be the director of Kurio. In addition, Anthony Liem of Merah Putih Inc will also be one of Kurio’s board members. We positively believe that they will bring Kurio to the top. In Japan, there are two similar apps to Kurio that have gained their fame already,” Ika added.
The funding will be allocated to develop their product as well as recruit new talents. “We have recruited 20 talents for Kurio, and still look for more, particularly software developers,” David said.
Below is a brief infography about Kurio:
Additional report by Hesti Pratiwi
Disclosure: Both DailySocial and Kurio are incubated by Merah Putih Inc
