Indonesia’s kumparan bags fresh funding from GDP Venture’s GDI

By Digital News Asia July 27, 2017

The stage and amount of the investment are undisclosed, but previous investors participated again
New funds will be used to expand its tech team and business development apparatus

Indonesia’s kumparan bags fresh funding from GDP Venture’s GDI

INDONESIA’S first hybrid online news site kumparan announced on July 26 that it closed a new round of funding from Global Digital International (GDI), an investment arm of technology company builder GDP Venture.

The stage and amount of the investment remain undisclosed, but existing investors from the startup’s initial round of funding also participated.

kumparan aims to use the fresh funds to expand its tech team and business development apparatus.

It will roll out new offerings for users and commercial partners, and the money will also be spent on talent acquisitions in a bid to help kumparan pursue its mission of a well-informed and more socially active public in Indonesia.

kumparan now claims millions of monthly unique visitors, having onboarded several local media outlets into its platform such as prominent business media SWA and multiple East Java-based publications. The team says more media will join kumparan’s platform in the coming months.

Kumparan has also been able to quickly gain the trust of news and policy makers, says the company. Government officials, experts, politicians, and celebrities have produced content on the platform already. This has thus far served to validate the team’s vision.

“kumparan is a breakthrough in the local media industry. We want to deliver quality content from our in-house journalists, other publishers, and users to the right audience,” explains kumparan CEO Hugo Diba.

“GDI is a great partner for us because they have valuable experience in tech and internet. In addition, GDI also has the expertise and network that will accelerate kumparan's growth.”

Indonesia’s kumparan bags fresh funding from GDP Venture’s GDI

Having beta launched in January of 2017, kumparan was co-founded and backed by some of the most recognisable names in Indonesia’s media and internet space. kumparan also garnered more than 12,000 applicants during its hiring process less than a year ago.

kumparan’s platform offers an intuitive experience of online news and social media tools custom-made for Indonesians. kumparan users can consume stories written collaboratively by the site’s bullpen of 100+ of journalists, see trending stories, and insert comments just like any other online media.

But what makes kumparan different is the fact that it is also a social media platform. The site acts as a dynamic online newsroom where regular users can also become news providers.

kumparan users can write stories and follow other users within the platform. Stories are presented in feeds and timelines just like other social media sites but users may also choose to follow a variety of topics and profiles. They will also only see content relevant to their interests in their feeds.

“We’re investing in kumparan not just because the co-founders are reputable media personalities with combined experience of more than 30 years, but because kumparan’s concept as a hybrid news provider can be a breath of fresh air for Indonesia’s news landscape,” said GDI representative Jerry Kasung.

“We like the idea in which readers can also participate and interact with other people about different news topics."

kumparan is a new kind of media player in the archipelago. However, when it comes to its business model, the firm aims to rely on advertising and content marketing, two tried-and-true mechanisms that will likely be key pillars of Indonesia’s online media game for years to come.

Reports indicate that revenue in Indonesia’s digital ad market surpassed US$1 billion in 2016, which means kumparan has a sizable market opportunity in front of it, as well as real problems it aims to solve via a more socially active public in the archipelago.