"Indonesia Impact Fund" Debuts, Provides Funding to Cakap

After receiving stage funding series B last 2021 worth $10 million (more than IDR140 billion Rupiah), platform edutech Cakap has again pocketed advanced funding from the Indonesia Impact Fund (IIF). IIF officially announced the first closure for its managed funds which took place at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2021.

It was not stated further how much investment value Cakap received this time. This fresh fund will then be used by Cakap to strengthen the company's expansion goals in an effort to increase access to high-quality education in the country as a whole, especially in areas outside big cities.

"We are proud to welcome new investments and collaborations with the Indonesia Impact Fund with Mandiri Capital Indonesia and UNDP," said Cakap Co-founder & CEO Tomy Yunus.

ESG value-based managed funds

Managed by Mandiri Capital Indonesia, IIF is a managed fund social impacts the first private sector in Indonesia based on ESG value (Environmental, Social, and Governance) with the aim of creating cooperation between the public and private sectors in the venture capital industry. This managed fund is followed by a number of family offices, private institutions, as well as collaborating with UNDP (United Nations Development Program) in the implementation and measurement of the right impact with the company's portfolio.

“We believe that with this new initiative, IIF will act as a catalyst in the venture capital industry and fund manager in Indonesia for social impact and sustainable investment. IIF will not only bring financial benefits but also create an impact on Indonesian society as a whole,” said CEO of Mandiri Capital Indonesia Eddi Danusaputro.

Mandiri Capital has appointed Joshua Agusta, Director of Venture Funding, to be the Fund Manager and Partner at IIF. The first funding was carried out with Cakap, one of the largest non-formal technology education platforms in Indonesia.

“Non-formal education is a market with great potential that has not been fully exploited in Indonesia. We believe that by investing in companies like Cakap, our funding will contribute to bridging the gap between Indonesians in foreign language skills and improving people's welfare in the long term," said Joshua.

Add services and features

Able to develop learning applications online with two-way interaction between students and teachers through video calls and text conversations. This concept allows two-way learning interaction for learning life skills throughout Asia Pacific.​

At the end of 2021, Cakap has launched Teachers Academy. The service contains teaching training programs through an online platform, starting for English teachers. It summarizes communicative teaching techniques and the use of technology. The learning solutions provided by Cakap enable personalization.

In addition to the existing learning services, Cakap UpSkill is also claimed to get a good response from the community to reduce the gap of competency in the Indonesian workforce. It has been recorded that more than 100 thousand alumni have resulted from training programs targeting various professions, ranging from digital marketers, engineers, SMEs owners, to tourism workers.

"We will still focus on providing social impact for people in Indonesia through solutions that have been launched previously, starting from language learning through Cakap Language, increasing skills in the vocational field through Cakap UpSkill, as well as teacher empowerment programs through the Cakap Teacher Academy," he said. Tommy.