Messaging app ChatWork raises up $12.8 million series B funding

Japanese venture capital firm JAFCO led the investment, reports Tech in Asia

ChatWork, a workplace social network and messaging app, has raised $12.8 million in series B funding. Japanese venture capital firm JAFCO led the investment, which was made public overnight.

The startup is based dually in the US and Japan.

The funding will be used to reach even more teams outside of Japan. The startup is targeting growth in the US, Europe, and Latin America.

ChatWork offers cloud-based team messaging, video chat, file sharing, task management, and contact management all in one place, so users aren’t forced to wrangle a suite of apps to cover each.

Hayato Ishida, ChatWork’s global product manager, says that the major differentiator from competitors is extending collaboration tools beyond the immediate team or company and emphasizing ease of use for non-technical professionals.

He declined to share details about ChatWork’s current user base and demographics, but said that more than 86,000 companies across the globe use the service. That’s an additional 20,000 since we last spoke to ChatWork in April last year, when the startup claimed to be adding 30,000 new individual users a month.

ChatWork raised $2.5 million in series A financing led by Japan’s GMO Venture Partners last spring. GMO – along with fellow domestic investors Shinsei Corporate Investment and SMBC Venture Capital – also joined the latest round.

JAFCO led another multi-million dollar investment just two weeks ago when it backed fashion subscription box startup AirCloset. 

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.