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Disrupting The Instant Messaging App Space, Jongla-style

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In an industry dominated by the likes of Viber, WeChat, Messaging and WhatsApp, who’d be brave – or foolhardy - enough to launch another instant messaging app?

Flying under the radar in this fiercely competitive industry, a team of Finnish entrepreneurs are determined to shake up the IM space with Jongla, an app that targets low smartphone penetration and handles connectivity issues. And it is a strategy that is paying off, as it more than doubled its user base in Asia and South America in 2015.

The idea behind the app was originated by Jongla founder Arto Boman in 2009, and it was simple; develop a cross-platform application to offer free messaging and give people better tools to express themselves beyond just text, by offering an easy-to-use app for sharing unlimited text, high-quality photos and videos.

Jongla CEO Riku Salminen says: “Our dream is to introduce to the world a service that will replace SMS and MMS in personal messaging. Although we have made several changes to our service and strategy during this journey, we still believe in it and continue to work hard for that dream.”

Yes, he admits, the space where they operate is extremely crowded, but when it comes to offering a free messaging solution for a generation of mobile natives in emerging markets, he insists there is still a significant untapped potential.

“Within the next four years there will be an estimated six billion smartphone users worldwide and the driver for that growth is the low-end smartphone sector,” he says.

With what he describes as the world's lightest messaging app and open solution, Salminen believes they have the competitive edge and are well positioned to take advantage of the opportunity. Jongla’s product development strategy is 100% based in-house. Everything, from design and server-client development, to quality assurance, customer care and marketing, is handled by a development team based in Helsinki, Finland.

To date, the company has secured €9.5 million in funding, including €3.4 million in a Series B round from private investors that include JSH Capital Oy, Ingman Finance Oy, and Holdington Oy.

In terms of performance, their best traction, viral growth and partner uptake can be found in South-East Asia and Latin America, with the fastest growth rates being recorded in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey.

Jongla’s success, says Salminen, is down to its ability to solve the technical limitations and challenges in the emerging markets with a light and open messenger that doesn’t compromise on functionality.

He says: “Thanks to innovations that include interactive stickers, and push-to-talk audio messaging with voice filters, Jongla helps people to express themselves, while offering a fast, reliable and secure messaging platform among friends, groups and communities.”

A year ago Jongla opened an APAC office in Jakarta, Indonesia and embarked on developing the business of offering a more localised user experience in those key markets. This year, the focus will be on product development, with a plan to introduce new third generation apps.

Nevertheless, as these less developed areas become better developed; as operators invest in better networks, and device manufacturers produce better, more affordable smartphones, Jongla will need to evolve.

Salminen agrees. “A generation of mobile natives in emerging markets will naturally expect more when it comes for messaging and communication,” he says. “No apps get opened as often as instant messaging apps, so our long-term plan is to become a platform of things. We are also working to bring VOIP and video calls and collaborative audio, video and photo sharing to Jongla.

“Our goal is to carry on disrupting the markets with new innovations and making messaging possible for the billions more people around the world who will be connecting to Internet with a personal device.”

 

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