Chinese tech giant Bytedance, the operator of short-video app TikTok, is updating its enterprise messaging app, Lark, to roll out new functions, making it a closer rival to Google’s office collaboration tool G suite, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
Photo credit: Bytedance
The new version – which will be released in China as soon as this month – will focus on cloud-based file management as well as document and spreadsheet editing, according to the report.
Lark, known as Feishu in China, was launched in April 2019 and provides remote-work services, allowing people to chat, conduct calls and meetings, access calendars, and use cloud storage.
With a team of over 1,700 people, the division that handles Lark is led by Xin Xie, a Bytedance vice president who reports directly to CEO Yiming Zhang, said sources.
As the Covid-19 outbreak spread and Chinese companies encouraged remote work, Lark gained traction, with daily downloads in the country reaching up to 22,000 in February. Bytedance will leverage this traction, focusing on the Chinese market and targeting individual users, according to the report.
The size of the global collaboration software market is projected to reach US$16.6 billion by 2025, rising at a compound annual growth rate exceeding 9% from 2018 to 2025. Players in the space include Microsoft, Google, Slack, Alibaba (which runs enterprise communication platform Dingtalk) and Tencent (the owner of WeChat Work).
Editing by Jaclyn Teng
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