HarukaEDU Confirms Series C Funding, Will Focus on Entering the Corporate Market

Educational startups (edtech) HarukaEDU has secured series C funding for an undisclosed amount. The investment round was led by an American trading company called SIG, with the involvement of Taipei-based startup accelerator AppWorks, two local investors GDP Venture and Gunung Sewu, as well as investors in the earlier stage Samator Group.

The news about this funding was confirmed directly by HarukaEDU Co-Founder & CEO Novistiar Rustandi, who at the same time conveyed his ambition to encourage companies to explore the B2B sector. Fundraising It's been reported since last year.

Previously, HarukaEDU had booked a series B funding of $2,2 million. PALF, Semator, and investors in the previous round of CyberAgent Capital were also involved in the round.

Similar to EdTech other popular, eg Ruangguru or Zenius, the basic service of HarukaEDU is an online learning platform. Last year, the Pintaria brand began to be widely introduced to the public, designed as marketplace training and learning on a variety of topics, focusing on developing professional skills. This service is now the forerunner to the birth of CorporateEdu, a new business model that will be boosted next year.

In an opportunity Novistiar explained the reasons for the change in the business segment that HarukaEDU was targeting –from academics, to professionals, and now targeting corporations. He and his team caught the need in the related market, which was influenced by the disruptive trend due to technological developments. As an example, many old jobs have begun to be eroded by automation, requiring every worker to always have competencies that are relevant to industry needs.

“A lot of old jobs are starting to disappear, for example guards pintu toll or cashier. While many new jobs appear, for example data scientist or AI trainers. The industrial revolution 4.0 does provide its own challenges, but by having the principle that we must always learn, we can continue to follow the times. That is a business potential that HarukaEDU is trying to accommodate,” explained Novistiar.

Regarding education for professionals, some time ago Ruangguru also introduce Skills Academy. Through this channel, more general learning materials such as presentation techniques, sales tips, and others are offered.

Try interrupting business training activities

CorporateEdu was developed to help companies facilitate competency development channels for their employees. The digital approach is considered more effective, with more flexible execution hours and more measurable results. From the company side, it is also considered to save more budget.

In its business journey, HarukaEDU collaborates with many institutions, from universities to professionals to deliver teaching materials. Its collaboration with accredited educational institutions also allows Pintaria to sell online course materials with pedagogy equivalent to on-campus learning.

With the series C funding obtained, HarukaEDU is quite optimistic that this service will be well received in the local corporate market and hopes to reap similar results with other startups abroad that have first set foot in the segment, for example 2U.com.

"Overseas there is 2U.com, it's also become benchmarking our product. This platform provides services blended learning, a kind of online lecture. In the past 2U.com was valued at $1 billion when they had only 12 users. As of 2018, users have reached 32 thousand, the valuation has increased to $4,8 billion. In EdTech, the acquisition is once, but the customer will pay for 4 years,” explained Novistiar when met at the Nexticorn event in Bali last year.