TossLab, the South Korean company behind enterprise communication platform JANDI, has raised KRW 14 billion (US$12 million) in a Series B funding round. Participants in the round included Softbank Ventures, Atinum Investment, SV Investment, SparkLab, Shinhan Capital, T Investment, and Must Asset Management.
As a result, TossLab has experienced significant growth, with revenue increasing 6.4 times since 2016.
JANDI, an enterprise communication application similar to Slack, has reached 2 million users as of May 2020.
In addition, the platform has attracted significant customers like LG CNS, CJ, and Nexen Tire.
As a result, JANDI's net revenue retention rate is approximately 120%, and its conversion rate from free trial users to paid users is around 40%, higher than Slack's conversion rate of 30%.
The estimated SaaS market in South Korea is $980 million, representing 42% of the total public cloud services market of $2.3 billion.
However, the SaaS market in South Korea has faced challenges in expanding due to a preference for on-premises applications among large enterprises, except for global giants such as Samsung, LG, and Hyundai.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape, with many companies adopting work-from-home policies and requiring communication and productivity tools. This shift has led to increased demand for SaaS applications.
Initially focused on South Korea, TossLab has expanded into Asia Pacific markets, including Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
For example, JANDI has become Taiwan's number one communication and productivity tool. JP Lee, head of the Korea team at Softbank Ventures, said they invested in TossLab to help the company become the "Slack of the Asian market."
TossLab plans to use the investment funds to expand its market reach and improve its services through enhanced marketing efforts.
