RuangRakit, a Surabaya-based maker of portable school equipment, has agreed to buy 72% of rival KelasLipat, in a deal that will combine their production and delivery networks from January. The companies say they can now supply 1,400 schools a month, more than double their current capacity, after a rush of orders for classroom kits designed to be moved quickly when heavy rain closes school buildings.
The deal, announced on Wednesday, values KelasLipat at Rp2.2 trillion (about €122 million) and includes a Rp480 billion investment in new machinery and stock. RuangRakit chief executive Iacob Costin-Teodorescu said the combined company would add 320 jobs over two years, mostly at workshops in East Java and Central Java.
From pilot to takeover
The purchase is the biggest step yet in a programme that began in 2024, when RuangRakit tested wheeled desks, waterproof storage boxes and laminated lesson cards with 18 schools. The kits let teachers shift lessons to a dry room or covered courtyard when rain makes a classroom unusable; they are not intended to replace permanent buildings.
Demand grew quickly last school year. A company tally based on orders from district education offices recorded 684 schools buying at least one kit, up from 211 a year earlier. The national education ministry counted 286 schools in Java that suspended classes for at least one day because of severe rain or local flooding during the same period.
“We started out making a practical set of wheels and boxes; now principals are asking for complete room plans,” said Martina Hoffmann, KelasLipat’s operations director. “Joining up means we can deliver before the next downpour, not after the school has already lost a week.”
We want a rainy day to change the timetable, not cancel the lesson.
Iacob Costin-Teodorescu, RuangRakit chief executive
RuangRakit will keep KelasLipat’s 260 staff and its name on the product range for at least 18 months, according to the companies’ deal summary. The firms plan to bring their design and purchasing teams together in Semarang, while retaining both factories and their existing local suppliers.
A bigger market for dry lessons
The companies are also pursuing a three-year supply contract covering 900 schools in Central Java, with a decision expected in December. KelasLipat’s weather-resistant kits cost from Rp18 million (about €1,000) per classroom, while larger packages include folding tables, sealed teaching-material cases and portable boards.
Education procurement specialist Nadia Mazur said the merger could make delivery more reliable, but warned that districts would need clear repair terms. “A desk that arrives quickly is useful; a desk with spare parts available in the next wet season is better,” she said. The firms have promised a five-year parts guarantee, with service centres planned in four provincial capitals.
RuangRakit says the combined business expects revenue of Rp3.1 trillion (about €172 million) next year, up from Rp1.9 trillion in 2025. For teachers who have spent rainy mornings shifting books and benches by hand, the test will be simple: whether the new network can get a dry-room kit to the school before the clouds gather.
