Work chat app Pie raises $1.2M in funding

MANILA, Philippines – An alternative to emails and lengthy conference calls, work chat app Pie announced in early June that it raised an additional $1.2 million in funding.

In a statement, the company said funding came from GREE Ventures, Koh Boon Hwee, Wavemaker Partners (DFJ Network), Dennis Goh, and Ivan Yeo of YSS Capital. Pie has raised a total of $2 million, following an earlier $800,000 round of funding.

Pie tries to distance itself from the pack of messaging apps available on mobile devices with the inclusion of enterprise-level features into a consumer-friendly chat application.

Pieter Walraven, co-founder of Pie, explained that their focus was on providing easy access to secure communications.

“Instead of competing on the number of features and integrations,” Walraven said, “we’re obsessed with things like user-onboarding, performance, design, and usability.”

He added: “Companies on Pie are in marketing, advertising, and publishing, but we also have flower shops, manufacturing plants, universities, and churches using us. Most companies on Pie like us for the things we don’t do. They require a simple and fast solution without a learning curve.” – Rappler.com