Jakarta’s Jurnal gets undisclosed seed funding from East Ventures

• Funds to be invested in product development and growing the team
• Aiming to have over 5,000 business owners on board by year-end

JAKARTA-based Jurnal Consulting announced it has secured a seed round investment from East Ventures for an undisclosed amount.
 
The company developed the Jurnal cloud-based accounting software that focuses on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), it said in a statement.
 
Doing their accounting and taxes can be a daunting task for business owners, which lead many to outsource the job.
 
However, accountants and tax consultants in Indonesia charge a high fee. This limits the demand for outsourced accounting, and decreases the number of accountants that practise independently, creating a loop of increasing prices, Jurnal said.
 
“Owners always need to know the current snapshot of their business to make intelligent decisions, but most owners do not have the capability or time to prepare the reports,” said Jurnal founder Anthony Kosasih.
 
Jurnal simplifies the bookkeeping and tax filing process for both businesses and accountants, and allows them to collaborate easily through a shared ledger. By enabling more accountants to practise independently, outsourced accounting will be more affordable, the company said.
 
Jurnal was founded by Kosasih and Daniel Witono, the latter the chief executive officer as well. Since its open beta release in January this year, it has been helping 20 businesses – local traders, importers, restaurants and online stores – with their bookkeeping.
 
“One of Indonesia’s key economy growth engines is small and medium businesses (SMBs),” said Willson Cuaca, managing partner at East Ventures.
 
“With its technology, Jurnal will help and accelerate Indonesia SMBs to a new level of efficiency,” he added.
 
Jurnal is currently free to use, but the company plans to adopt a subscription-based model with prices starting from 150,000 rupiah (US$11.66) a month.

The recently secured funds from East Ventures will be invested in product development and growing the team. Jurnal is projecting to help over 5,000 business owners by the end of this year.
 
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