Koprol may still be shut down by Yahoo this August after the team was disbanded but the founders of the location-based service are already back in action launching two separate companies. IceHouse is a software company headed by Fajar Budiprasetyo and Daniel Armanto while Barito Labs is run by Satya Witoelar along with Armanto and Budprasetyo.
As a software and application development company, Ice House focuses on creating and developing cutting-edge mobile and web apps for startups and corporations in Silicon Valley.
Ice House is backed by Pacific Technology Partners, a private investment firm based in Palo Alto. Currently the company is already working on a number of apps for overseas clients.
Budiprasetyo set up Ice House because “I’m deeply interested in creating products. With Ice House, I’m hoping to be able to use the engineering talents that we have acquired from Yahoo to develop new applications and services. Thanks to the contacts we’ve made and our partners in PTP, we have been able to work on new projects almost immediately.”
Although it is already staffed by a dozen former Yahoo engineers and designers, Ice House is still looking to hire top local software engineers to work in their more than 200m2 loft, located at Jl. Senopati in South Jakarta.
The other company that came out of Koprol is Barito Labs, which is actually the legal entity that now owns intellectual properties relating to Koprol. The name refers to the location of the original Koprol office.
“With our unique combination of entrepreneurial, product development and marketing experience in both a local startup and a global corporation, we will introduce amazing mobile innovations for consumers in emerging markets”, said Witoelar.
Barito Labs was set up not only to regain control of Koprol but also to create mobile apps. Witoelar and his co-founders are working on a number of different products that are aimed at local consumers. What Barito Labs will create, Witoelar said, “As the name suggests, apps will tend to be more experimental rather than commercial.” According to Armanto, “Barito Labs will focus on creating our own products whereas Ice House provides development services for other companies. The two companies won’t be competing.”
Asked whether Barito Labs will relaunch Koprol, Witoelar said, “We’re working on something about it but we’re not ready to reveal what it is yet.” Budiprasetyo added, “We do plan to relaunch Koprol and hopefully diehard Koprollers will be able to enjoy the new Koprol.”
Barito Labs hopes to be able to launch the new Koprol not long after the Yahoo version of the service shuts down in August, but cannot provide a definite time frame.
