<article><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/wavecell" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wavecell</a>, a Singapore-based cloud communications platform, today announced that it has secured $8.15 million (S$11.3 million) in a Series B funding round led by VC firm <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/qualgro" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Qualgro</a> and <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/mdi-ventures" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MDI Ventures</a>, the corporate venture capital arm of <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/telkom-indonesia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Telkom Indonesia</a>. </article>

<a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/wavecell" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wavecell</a>, a Singapore-based cloud communications platform, today announced that it has secured $8.15 million (S$11.3 million) in a Series B funding round led by VC firm <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/qualgro" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Qualgro</a> and <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/mdi-ventures" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MDI Ventures</a>, the corporate venture capital arm of <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/telkom-indonesia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Telkom Indonesia</a>. 
Previous backer <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/wavemaker-partners" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wavemaker Partners</a> and other new investors also joined this round. The valuation at which the round was raised is confidential. 
“With this latest round of funding in place, Wavecell is well-positioned to further expand its leadership position and become one of the most trusted service providers to banks, insurance, e-commerce and other corporate clients in the region,” said Heang Chhor, Founder and Managing Partner of Qualgro.
The funding comes as the company is experiencing hyper-growth since <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/30981-30981/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">closing a $1.6 million Series A round in February 2016</a>, also led by Qualgro. Proceeds from this round will strengthen the company’s Asia Pacific presence and reinforce the company’s relations with both local and global mobile carriers.
Founded in 2010 by <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://linkedin.com/in/oliviergerhardt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Olivier Gerhardt</a>, its CEO and Co-Founder, Wavecell creates APIs for communication tools which let developers integrate SMS, voice, chat, and video calling into their applications. Since its last funding round, Wavecell claims to have significantly increased its enterprise customer base by over 300 per cent.
Its solution permits enterprises and application developers to communicate efficiently and enhance customer experience via its messaging and live video interaction solutions, which can easily be integrated into existing website, applications and services.
Some enterprise clients of Wavecell include Grab, Lazada, Redmart, and various wholesalers and app developers, as well as Telkomsel. 
Reflecting on the city-state&#8217;s venture ecosystem and its maturation since 2010, one inefficiency that Gerhardt observed was that &#8220;the pool of talent in Singapore sometimes can be limited, depending on the scope,&#8221; which he noted Wavecell worked around by recruiting local and international talents.
In an official statement, Gerhardt, said, “This is a very exciting time for all of us at Wavecell. As we continue to serve our customers, along with product excellence, delivered with constant innovation and passion, we are now ready to continue scaling up our sales and marketing activities as well as growing our engineering team. &#8220;
Recognising Indonesia as one of our key markets, Wavecell will also work together with the Telkom Group of companies to develop synergies and collaborations with various business units,” he adds, 
Asked about the exit strategy of Wavecell, Gerhardt told this portal: &#8220;Our exit strategy will be inclining more towards either trade sale or IPO.&#8221;
According to Gerhardt, the geographies which are the greatest business drivers are Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, with Indonesia a particularly crucial market for the startup.
Despite the <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.techinasia.com/southeast-asia-series-b-problem" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">regional Series B gap</a>, Gerhardt shared with DEALSTREETASIA: &#8220;Being an entrepreneur is never working alone but working with the right people within your team to make things happen. An entrepreneur also means that you have to constantly be out there in the industry and be on the ground to really understand what’s truly going on.&#8221;
&#8220;I’ve had experiences pitching to so many investors back then that I’ve learnt that finding the right group of investors is more important and with a lot of hard work especially to build mutual trust and maintain long-term relationships with investors to potentially work on strategic business opportunities together. In my case, I met MDI for the first time in March 2016 after completing our Series A and at the same time, we were building business relationships with Telkom Group.&#8221;
&#8220;With trust and firm relationships from all sides and tonnes of time and efforts, MDI Ventures is now leading our Series B this time round. It takes two hands to clap, both entrepreneurs and investors. Both parties need to believe in the product and to share the passion for growing the company. It’s the people that make the product work, so work with the right people&#8221; he adds.
Also Read:
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/30981-30981/">Singapore: Wavecell raises $1.6m Series A from Qualgro Asean Fund, Wavemaker Pacific</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/45703-45703/">Thailand’s Ardent Capital sells SE Asia venture portfolio to Wavemaker Partners</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/exclusive-mdi-ventures-investing-100m-in-startups-closing-3-more-deals-before-year-end-58164/">Exclusive: MDI Ventures to invest $100m in startups, set to close 3 more deals by year-end</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/for-tuesday-telkoms-mdi-ventures-lead-8-figure-round-for-acommerce-47675/">Telkom’s MDI Ventures leads 8-figure round for aCommerce</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/mobikon-gets-funding-from-qualgro-life-sreda-14995/">India: Mobikon gets funding from Qualgro, Life.SREDA</a>

Singapore: Wavecell closes $8.15m Series B round led by Qualgro & MDI Ventures

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Singapore: Wavecell closes $8.15m Series B round led by Qualgro & MDI Ventures

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