Communications platform Eko raises $20m 

The London-and-Bangkok-based company has seen revenues more than triple in the past year and now counts over half a million recurring paid users across sectors including retail, hospitality, banking and other service-based industries. This round will provide Eko with funds to further accelerate its expansion in Europe and North America, the company said.
Eko’s platform, which is currently used by hundreds of companies including leading groups such as Thanachart Bank and True Corporation, has been built to solve a growing problem for businesses that rely on mobile-first, distributed non-desk-based workforces. 
These companies have increasingly seen their employees create informal communication chat groups and processes using existing consumer applications, which in turn creates security, confidentiality and GDPR issues.
Eko’s “All-In-One” solution solves this problem by providing a secure platform for employees and management to communicate and collaborate in real time, the company said. “It provides users with a host of easy-to-use functionality, including communications, business process management [workflows], project management and knowledge management,” it claimed. “It is also highly flexible, providing numerous APIs that allow for the integration of legacy systems and bots. After deploying Eko’s products, customers have experienced benefits such as accelerated digitisation of workflow and processes, higher employee engagement, significant communication efficiency and across-the-board productivity gains,” the company claimed.
Ashley Ely, general manager at Leman Locke, a serviced apartment in London, said, “Mobile technologies and apps have enabled us to do so many things from the comfort of our smartphones. Eko has revolutionised the way our employees communicate and collaborate across all departments. It is a fantastic application that is an integral part of our operations.”
Since launching its sales, business, and partnership operations in Europe earlier this year, the company has seen its global sales pipeline grow by more than 10 times, with the majority of client opportunities now coming from Europe and North America.
Eko has established a strong partner base in Europe and is currently engaged in pilots with many of the region’s largest businesses. Moving forward, it plans to spend funds to continue the expansion of its European and American teams with the aim of significantly increasing the company’s partner and customer bases in the regions. 
“If Eko is to achieve the necessary scale to become a serious global player in the mobile enterprise market, continued growth in these markets is critical,” said Korawad Chearavanont, Eko’s CEO and founder.
Eko’s team of over 100 staff is spread out among offices in Bangkok, London, Amsterdam, Berlin and New York.