In 2023, Indonesia’s Edtech Cakap consistently recorded a net profit for four consecutive years. All core business lines–Language, Upskill, and Business segments– experienced positive growth, with a total cumulative increase in the number of students by 50%, reaching 4.5 million students by December 2023 (YoY). In line with student growth, the number of educators at Cakap also increased by 27.78% to 2,300 in 2023.
During 2023, the company completed a Series C funding of USD 7.5 million, supported by reputable investors such as MDI Ventures, Heritas Capital, and several conglomerates. Donald Wihardja, CEO of MDI Ventures, expressed that by observing Cakap’s achievements thus far, MDI Ventures is optimistic about the growth through the positive impact that Cakap continues to bring to the society in the future. “As investors, we also see Cakap’s ability to continue innovating and proving its capacity as an edtech startup in Indonesia that remains competitive amidst the current market situation,” stated Donald.
Tomy Yunus, CEO & Co-founder Cakap, stated that the funding will be used for national business expansion outside of Jabodetabek through new business units, such as blended learning facilities and a career platform (Career Link and Match). According to Tomy, increasing human resource capacity or upskilling continues to be a priority for the company with the mission to maximize Indonesia’s demographic bonus by producing a skilled workforce. “Awareness of skill improvement (upskilling) is increasing, starting from school-aged students, fresh graduates, to professionals. Cakap strives to accommodate this need through access to quality, certified educational content for the Indonesian people,” stated Tomy.
The Language pillar is a major contributor to Cakap’s revenue, English course leading in popularity, followed by Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean. English is the most popular course, especially among recent graduates who recognize the importance of mastering foreign languages to meet the demands of the job market. Atho Isnanthyo Abyan (28) attends English classes at Cakap to enhance his work-related communications, supporting him in effectively interacting with his colleagues, the majority of whom are English speakers from other countries. Working in the field of information technology (IT), Atho shares, “I used to lack confidence because many of my coworkers hailed from various countries. However, now my communication skills have improved.”
Meanwhile, within the upskilling pillar, business and management learning courses emerge as the highest niche among all available vocational classes. The academic team at Cakap continues to innovate and design vocational learning curricula with over 1,175 course materials and 19,500 modules available on the Cakap platform.
To date, the initiative to expand the early-stage business units has been ongoing aggressively, starting with Cakap Kids Academy (CKA) -a blended learning facility for school-aged children-, which already has two branches, Cakap English Standardized Test (CEST), an English proficiency test curated by the Cakap curriculum team. CEST has successfully served over 50 educational institutions with more than 13,000 registered students taking the exam. Additionally, there’s the Link and Match program with the launch of a new business line called Cakap Career Hub. Currently, the platform has connected 30 corporate partners with tens of thousands of prospective applicants.
In 2024, Cakap is set to implement the Catalytic Fund program (a collaborative project between the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)) in the 3T areas (Disadvantaged, Frontier, and Outermost). This program aims to provide foreign language learning opportunities to school students in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). The selection of these two provinces is driven by the significant number of students who often face barriers to quality education, especially communication, environmental challenges, such as drought, hot weather, and inadequate infrastructure.
“As a business operating in the education sector, Cakap remains committed to aligning with sustainable development goals (SDGs). The company strives to make learning and career opportunities accessible to everyone, while continuously offering quality educational innovation to support the improvement of the nation’s quality,” concluded Tomy.