Singapore-based college application platform Cialfo raised USD 3 million in a Series A funding round led by DLF Ventures. Other participants include Enterprise Singapore’s investment arm SEEDS Capital, YK Capital, and some angel investors.
According to Cialfo’s press statement, the startup has raised more than USD 5 million to date; a figure which Cialfo thinks makes it Singapore’s best-funded education technology startup. Proceeds of this round will be used to support the company’s expansion in the US.
Stanley Chia, Rohan Pasari and William Hund founded Cialfo in 2012. The Singaporean company provides a technology platform that combines the functionalities of social messaging, task management, and Dropbox to simplify university applications by allowing for quick communication and sharing of documents among consultants, teachers, and students. Parents can also receive automated responses from the system.
The education technology company began by charging for personalization and consultation services; the platform is free to use. However, when the three co-founders later added a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model, where Cialfo sells tech-enabled services to customers from countries such as India, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Mongolia.
The company has since sold its consultancy arm to another Singapore-based provider, ChangedEdu, in 2017.
Today, Caiflo has offices across the globe in Singapore, New York, Beijing, and New Delhi. Some of the company’s clients include India’s Oberoi International School, Singapore’s Hwa Chong Institution, China’s Beijing No. 4/BHSF, Poland’s American School of Warsaw, and Netherlands’ School of The Hague.
The company’s current plan is to increase students’ access to quality American education opportunities regardless of their background.
Editor: Nadine Freischlad