Bytedance has recently launched in overseas markets its enterprise messaging and productivity app Lark, commercializing what used to be an internal communication tool.
Released via Singapore-headquartered subsidiary, Lark Technologies, the product is an online collaborative platform that combines three functions: calendar, documents, and chat. It is available on macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android.
Lark’s document and calendar features closely resemble Google Docs and Google Calendar, respectively. Slides and another kind of document tool called “MindNote,” as well as video and audio conferencing, however, are currently unavailable and are “coming soon,” according to the app’s dedicated website.
Lark offers a total of four subscription plans. Smaller teams could opt for the “free” option, which caps cloud storage at 30 GB, or the “basic” plan, which costs $2.50 per user per month and allows up to 1 TB of cloud storage. “Business” and “Enterprise” plans are priced at $5 and $20 per user per month, respectively, and offer unlimited cloud storage plus additional features such as advanced security protection, digital forensics, and compliance management.
Similar to Slack, Lark also uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide infrastructure services. It appears to be targeting the US market, as its support team is based in the California Bay Area.
Access to the platform is invitation-only during its “early bird” stage which began Mar. 21. Certain customers on a waiting list are invited to use the app. According to the company’s website, access will be extended on a rolling basis.
Bytedance declined to provide further details when contacted by TechNode.
Lark replaced Alibaba’s DingTalk as Bytedance’s internal communication and collaboration platform in November. According to reports, Bytedance plans to double Lark’s team size to 1,000 by the end of this year. The company is also testing a similar product called “Feishu” that targets the domestic market.
Prior to the launch of Lark, Bytedance acquired a productivity tool named Mubu in 2018 and led a Series B for cloud-based productivity suite Shimo Docs in 2017.