Slack Technologies Inc. is about to receive some extra competition from a fairly unexpected place: Thailand.

The Southeast Asian nation is home to Eko Communications Inc., a business messaging startup that today announced it has raised $2 million in funding to go global. The expansion effort is set to place a particular focus on the U.S. and the U.K. Eko also plans to target the Japanese market with help from Itochu Corp., the Tokyo-based conglomerate that led the investment.

Tech in Asia reported that the company will receive a 5 percent stake in Eko in return for its contribution to the round, which amounted to $1 million. The rest of the capital came from returning investors. The startup’s backers are banking that it will manage to secure a slice of the business message market despite entering a crowded field that includes not only Slack, but also Microsoft Corp., Atlassian Inc. and several other well-established players.

With that said, Eko is joining the fray with momentum on its side. The startup claims to have seen revenue rise 630 percent over the past year thanks to strong demand among large enterprises, which constitute the bulk of its user base. More than 150,000 employees from those companies now rely on Eko to collaborate.

The service, which is delivered as a mobile app, can also help with a number of related business tasks. Eko packs a built-in teleconferencing feature, file sharing tools and the ability for personnel to ask for time off from their superiors.

Eko Chief Executive Officer Korawad Chearavanont told TechCrunch that over 80 percent of his team’s expenditures so far have gone to feature development. The startup will need to keep adding more capabilities if it is to become a contender to Slack in the U.S. To establish a foothold, Eko plans to build out an initial user base of small businesses and only then go after large enterprises.

Eko has raised over $9 million to date.

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