This edtech startup goes glitzy with TV ads

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With billions of funding, it feels normal to see unicorns like Tokopedia and Shopee have a TV show that was broadcasted at nine national channels, on a prime time slot. However, it’s an unprecedented move for Indonesian startups with less than US$1 billion valuation.

That’s what I felt when Ruangguru, an online learning platform for K-12 students, started to use that strategy in 2019.

Turns out the effort brings positive results for the education technology startup – its revenue quadrupled to US$16 million. While the budget for that aggressive marketing strategy also increased the company’s loss, it still has much cash in the bank.

Interestingly, rough calculation from the revenue shows that Ruangguru’s paid users is only around 2% of Indonesian students who have internet access. The room of growth is still there for them, and for competitors like Zenius.

— Aditya Hadi Pratama, Journalist at Tech in Asia

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