JFDI-Innov8 bootcamp 2012 startup Kark Mobile Education Pte Ltd announced today that Ideosource, a Jakarta-based investment firm incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, has invested an undisclosed sum to fund development of a new product.
The product, also tentatively called Kark, is a tablet-based edutainment platform for 5-12 year olds based on simulation and interactivity triggered by trading cards.
“We are delighted to have this support, which gives us the ability to continue building our product after the bootcamp and reinforces what we have believed all along– that games have a great future in the educational industry,” said Bullitt Sesariza, Founder and CTO of Kark Mobile Education Pte Ltd. “We will be unveiling our exciting new product aimed at the family education market shortly.”
Andi Surja Boediman, Director at Ideosource, commented “Ideosource always invests in innovative products and companies,and we think Kark is a good innovation in digital industry. That is why Ideosource is investing in Kark and will continously support Kark in many ways.”
The investment follows Kark Mobile Education Pte Ltd’s participation in the JFDI–Innov8 2012 Bootcamp. Kark is the first startup participating in the bootcamp to receive such investment, ahead of the bootcamp Demo Day scheduled for 4th May.
Cofounder of JFDI.Asia Wong Meng Weng said, “We’ve been impressed with Kark since we first met the team in Jakarta. This investment, coming before the official Demo Day, is proof of the progress the startup has made since joining us in Singapore a couple of months ago.”
Cofounder and CEO of JFDI.Asia Hugh Mason said, “We hope that investors will recognize this deal as validation of all the hard work the startup teams have put in over the last 100 days. The bootcamp has supported them in creating valuable, investment-ready propositions, de-risked and ready to roll. For the first time in South East Asia, the Lean Startup Method we’re using has made it possible to systematically test and develop each aspect of an early stage business model. It’s meant we can focus the limited resources our talented teams have had in a short space of time to creating startups with real value. It’s very exciting.”
Kark Mobile Education Pte Ltd is a digital startup company incorporated in Singapore. Its new product Kark is a tablet-based edutainment platform for 4-12 year olds based on simulation and interactivity triggered by collectible cards. Kark won a place at the JFDI–Innov8 2012 Bootcamp after winning first place at the Telkomsel Startup Bootcamp, which was held in Jakarta in November 2011. The Kark team, whose founders are from Indonesia, moved from Indonesia to Singapore to participate in the bootcamp.
More great news. Thrilled to have had the chance to get to know the Kark team from the first day of the Jakarta weekend. I am confident that Kark is going to be a worldwide phenomenon.
Josh Futterman