Jungle leads $400k seed funding in Scrollback

By Joji Thomas Philip

November 24, 2014

Scrollback, the Singapore-India based startup that is building free open-source chat platform for online communities has raised $400k (S$500,000) in seed funding led by Singapore-based venture capital from Jungle Ventures.

The round was supported by Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Technology Incubation Scheme, Crystal Horse Investments, Singapore Angel Network, Roland Turner and other angel investors from Singapore, the company said.

Scroll was founded by two Bangalore-based entrepreneurs, Aravind Ravi-Sulekha and Gaurav Srivastava last June at the JFDI Asia accelerator programme (in Singapore). It’s business model aims at transforming the user experience for online communities by combining the ease and engagement of chat with content organisation of forums.For instance on its android app, It allows users to create their own chat rooms on their topics of interest and have conversations with like-minded people.

Several regional communities of Mozilla, cryptocurrency communities like dogecoin, activist groups, comic blogs, online games and even municipalities have now adopted Scrollback as their platform for open discussions. It is also being used by conferences and events as a back-channel where attendees can network, share anecdotes and engage with speakers. In the past one year, Scrollback has grown to over 700 active communities across South East Asia, America and Europe.

Aravind Ravi-Sulekha, co-founder said most online platforms today are about connecting you with friends and family in new ways. “Online platforms from a decade ago, like web forums and IRC chat rooms, focussed on forming communities by connecting you with strangers who share your interests. Scrollback aims to bring that sense of community to the modern era. We aim to become the discussion platform of choice for every online community,” he said.

Jungle Venture’s is amongst the youngest VC firms in Singapore and its portfolio now includes 25 startups from 5 sectors and 7 countries across South-east Asia and USA. It had recently led a $1.6 million pre-series round in Pomelao, a Thailand-based online fashion brand and e-tailer.

Launched in 2012, the VC firm headed by Amit Anand and Anurag Srivastavaa had initially raised $10 million as part of its first pan-Asian super Angel fund.

In about 13 of its portfolio companies, Jungle Ventures has got on board the Singapore government as a co-investor. Put simply, the Singapore government matches on a one-to-one bases the VC firm’s investment into the startup.  This is also part of the Singapore government’s move to support VC firms here investing in local startups here under its early stage Early Stage Venture Fund (ESVF) scheme.

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
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Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW