New startup wants to get Chinese companies chatting and collaborating online

A new Chinese startup is launching today with the aim of getting Chinese companies chatting and collaborating online, called WorkingIM. Whereas enterprise work tools are usually over-complex, focused on desktop computing, or plain ugly, WorkingIM looks more like a social network, one where employees work on projects together while chatting in groups or privately, viewing attachments, and managing to-do lists. iOS and Android apps are in the works, while the PC version is ready to roll.

WorkingIM has a free version that could be used, with limited features, by a bunch of friends who’re working on something together, but the new startup is focused on small and medium-sized enterprises – including fellow tech startups – to whom it charges a fee. The pricing is not specified.

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There are quite a few other China-made enterprise chat apps out there, all with varying degrees of complexity and gnarly UI. There’s Pragmatic.ly and Mingdao, which both look pretty good, and also the rather ugly IMO. But WorkingIM looks the best, with that straight-forward UI inspired by social networks like Weibo and Facebook.

It’s a tactic that’s worked well for Convo, a Pakistan-made online collaboration tool that recently secured $5 million in funding to boost its global reach. There’s also Fleep, which was launched this summer by a former Skype executive. Neither Fleep nor Convo have launched in China.

(Source: 36Kr)

(Editing by Paul Bischoff)