Wavecell raises USD 8.15M in oversubscribed Series B funding round

Wavecell raises USD 8.15M in oversubscribed Series B funding round

Wavecell raises USD 8.15M in oversubscribed Series B funding round to strengthen cloud communications market leadership in Asia-Pacific

Singapore, 07 June 2017 – Wavecell, Asia’s leading cloud communications platform, today announced that it has secured USD 8.15 million (SGD 11.3 million) in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Qualgro, one of the leading venture capital firms in Southeast Asia, and MDI Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Telkom Indonesia. Previous investors Wavemaker Partners and other new investors also joined this round, further affirming Wavecell’s cloud communications leadership in Southeast Asia.

The funding comes as the company is experiencing hyper-growth since its Series A funding earlier in December 2015, also led by Qualgro. In the past year, Wavecell has significantly increased its enterprise customer base, by over 300%. The new capital will be used to strengthen the company’s presence in Asia Pacific to better serve the enterprise space and reinforce the company’s relations with both local and global mobile carriers.

“This is a very exciting time for all of us at Wavecell. As we continue to serve our customers, along with product excellence, delivered with constant innovation and passion, we are now ready to continue scaling up our sales and marketing activities as well as growing our engineering team. Recognising Indonesia as one of our key markets, Wavecell will also work together with the Telkom Group of companies to develop synergies and collaborations with various business units,” Olivier Gerhardt, CEO and Co-Founder of Wavecell shared.

Apart from further developing Wavecell’s world-class product and technology, the CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service) company will accelerate its go-to-market strategy for both messaging and live-video solutions.

“Having backed Wavecell from day one, we are thrilled with their progress in bringing to market a reliable and cost-effective cloud communications platform. With this latest round of funding in place, Wavecell is well-positioned to further expand its leadership position and become one of the most trusted service providers to banks, insurance, e-commerce and other corporate clients in the region,” reaffirms Heang Chhor, Founder and Managing Partner of Qualgro.

Nicko Widjaja, CEO and Investment Director of MDI Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Telkom Indonesia, shares the same sentiments, and expressed his excitement about participating in this funding round, “We are excited to welcome Wavecell as part of MDI Ventures Portfolio. They have uniquely positioned the company as the first cloud communications API in APAC, and leading in the region amongst the likes of Twilio and Nexmo. Wavecell has redefined telecom by adding a digital layer to communication, although not entirely replacing the existing value chain. It’s transforming telecom, not replacing the existing analogue products and services.”

“With millions of customers in ASEAN like Grab, Lazada, Redmart, and tons of wholesalers and app developers, the best thing about Wavecell is that you don’t even know if you’re already using their technologies. In addition, we are happy to announce that Wavecell has already been working with Telkomsel and is creating great synergy value to the Telkom Group” he adds.

Founded in 2010, Wavecell, a Singapore-based company, is revolutionizing the cloud communications landscape. Wavecell empowers enterprises and application developers to communicate efficiently and enhance customer experience via its messaging and live-video interaction solutions, which can easily be integrated to existing website, applications and services. With seven offices worldwide, Wavecell is looking to hire both local and international talents to join their growth journey.

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About Wavecell

Wavecell simplifies real-time communications using Messaging Solutions and Live Video Interaction for any platforms such as applications, websites, and services. Our strength lies in offering cloud-based multichannel communications to developers and enterprises for them to build better services by integrating our APIs and SDKs. Wavecell ensures first-class connectivity to more than 190 countries while maintaining high-security standards on the platform.

About Qualgro Asean Fund

Qualgro is a venture capital firm based in Singapore, investing in B2B tech companies with regional or global growth potential. Qualgro invests across Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, at Series A & Series B. Our goal is to support high-quality teams building high-growth businesses. Quality & Growth. Qualgro.

About MDI Ventures

MDI Ventures is the corporate venture capital initiative by Telkom Indonesia focusing on early and mid-stage companies, particularly in the Southeast Asia region. MDI Ventures aims to maximize the VC portfolio value within the Telkom Group, empower the growth of digital entrepreneurship and help to build the region’s start-up ecosystem.

About Wavemaker Partners

Wavemaker Partners is an early-stage, cross-border venture capital firm with dual headquarters in Los Angeles and Singapore. Since 2003, Wavemaker Partners have invested in more than 170 Internet, Mobile and Enterprise technology startups across Southern California and Southeast Asia. Wavemaker Partners is a member of the Draper Venture Network, the world’s leading venture capital collective with 15 firms spread across 4 continents.

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