Tag: APAC

Singapore – SevenRooms, a guest experience and retention platform for the hospitality industry, has now expanded to Singapore and Hong Kong. The local team will be led by Paul Hadida, SevenRooms’ general manager for APAC, who has over a decade of hospitality industry experience and has led the platform’s rapid expansion in Australia over the last 18 months.

SevenRooms’ CRM-driven platform includes a reservation, waitlist and table management, online ordering, contactless order and pay, review aggregation, and marketing automation. It empowers operators to create meaningful and personal guest relationships both on- and off-premise that maximise profits, incentivise loyalty, and cultivate exceptional experiences at every interaction, from acquiring to engaging and retaining more customers.

The expansion will see SevenRooms significantly ramping its on-the-ground presence in Hong Kong and Singapore with the hiring of sales and customer success roles. The company is currently recruiting heavily across the region, with 11% of the company’s total global roles for 2022 expected for APAC. This will account for a 120% increase in the number of SevenRooms employees across Singapore and Hong Kong. Moreover, SevenRooms will continue to build out integrations across the region over the coming months.

Hadida noted that this is a significant milestone in the platform’s mission to revolutionise the way the global hospitality industry provides exceptional guest experiences.

“We’ve grown organically in the region over the last few years, with 1-Group, Jigger & Pony, and Wine Connection amongst our existing local customers. The timing of our launch is very significant. Restrictions are easing at different rates, and while challenges remain, there is excitement about what the future holds. Our mission is to help operators – big and small, new and established – rebuild by creating the data-driven foundations that incentivise loyalty, boost revenue and build meaningful guest relationships.”

Meanwhile, Joel Montaniel, SevenRooms’ CEO, commented that they are delighted to officially launch SevenRooms in Singapore and Hong Kong, empowering operators as they enter a new era for post-pandemic hospitality. 

He further shared that these cities are two of the hospitality capitals of the world, offering a diverse array of restaurants known for their culinary excellence and incredible guest experiences. 

“After two incredibly challenging years, we are helping the local industry return to its former glory. Through the opening of our local office, in addition to the planned expansion of our on-the-ground team, we are supporting the local hospitality sector, helping operators discover new ways to adapt and drive growth in an ever-evolving, competitive market,” said Montaniel.

Singapore – Singapore-based investment platform that empowers brands in India and SEA, Venturi Partners, has announced that its maiden fund has hit its final close of US$175m. The platform may, however, increase the quantum of the fund with the demand for investments going up. 

The investment platform’s expertise lies in identifying and supporting Asian high-growth consumer companies with an online or offline presence in sectors ranging from FMCG to education and healthcare services. The Venturi team has, in their previous roles, invested in and supported a variety of consumer brands such as Byju’s, Lazada, and Burger King, as well as Domino’s, amongst others.

Venturi said that it has already deployed 30% of the fund across three investments in India and Southeast Asia, and aims to deploy the rest over the next 24 months. The platform invests US$10m to US$40m in series B to series D rounds. Moreover, the team has strong prior entrepreneurial and operating backgrounds and will leverage this experience to be a value-added partner to its companies.

Nicholas Cator, Venturi Partners’ managing partner, noted that their aim is to build a long-term, partnership-based investment platform with a small number of families with similar values that want to participate in the Asian consumer growth story. 

“We offer our families more transparency on our portfolio than a traditional fund and will offer up to 100% of their commitment in co-investment opportunities. This enables us to deploy larger amounts into our portfolio companies and to support them over multiple rounds,” said Cator.

Singapore – Global marketing agency VMLY&R has elevated Camellia Tan, former managing director of network development for Asia at VMLY&R, to step into the newly created role of chief network growth officer for Asia. 

In her new role, Tan will be responsible for the planning, design, and execution of VMLY&R’s growth strategy for Asia, focusing on new and existing markets against key network client opportunities. She will also be ensuring the agency’s preparedness to operationally support core and new clients’ business – to achieve growth targets by building, buying, partnering for, and integrating capabilities.

Tan has played an instrumental role in network development since joining Y&R in 2010, and then VML in 2013. She grew the network’s Caltex remit, from just regional brand AOR to becoming an integrated lead agency, including driving digital transformation covering data, marketing automation, and experience design. She has also helped to integrate WPP’s foremost commerce agency Geometry into VMLY&R by bringing complementary capabilities together and creating market-leading offerings for shared clients – including subscription commerce, data-driven marketing, and service design.

Commenting on her elevation, Tan said, “Growing and building the VMLY&R network has always been close to my heart. Whether it’s helping to grow clients’ businesses or ramping up capabilities through integration or right-fit acquisition, I look forward to building on our current momentum to help drive the agency’s continued expansion and relevance.”

Meanwhile, Yi-Chung Tay, VMLY&R’s CEO for Asia, shared that the agency has enjoyed robust growth over the last three years because of its relentless focus on integrating, building out and acquiring market-leading capabilities to meet its clients’ business needs, and having a great culture for like-minded innovators and marketers to collaborate and grow together. 

“With Camy having been in the thick of this growth, she’s the ideal choice to maintain this momentum, continuing our focus on growth and our ever-expanding capabilities,” said Tay.

Singapore – Global electronic signature and agreement cloud company DocuSign has appointed Kartik Krishnamurthy, former vice president for APAC at conversationalist AI platform Paradox, to be its new area vice president for Asia. 

Aside from his previous role at Paradox, Krishnamurthy has served as the managing director of cloud-based human capital management software company Cornerstone OnDemand in Asia, where he executed the strategic vision and regional plan to support the company’s growth in the region. He has also worked with payroll service provider ADP for more than three years in multiple senior roles.

In his new role, Krishnamurthy will be responsible for driving sustainable revenue growth across key markets within Asia, including Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the Philippines across all customer segments. He will be reporting directly to Dan Bognar, DocuSign’s group VP and general manager for APJ. 

Krishnamurthy said that they are at an exciting phase of transformation, and DocuSign’s proposition of helping leaders elevate their business to the next level to unlock greater potential is a value add that he strongly believes in.

“Together with the regional and global team, I look forward to improving the lives of – and making business easier for – customers with a fast, efficient and productive solution here in Singapore and the rest of Asia,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bognar shared that Asia is a key contributor to their business and one of the fastest-growing regions globally, and even before the pandemic, they’ve seen a great demand for new tools and services to support the diverse businesses here. 

“We are committed to innovating our business through expanding our local teams to support our customer needs,” said Bognar.

Thailand – Global fintech FIS has partnered with tech giant Microsoft to integrate its FIS modern banking platform into the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, aimed at expanding digital online banking to financial institutions in the Thailand market, as well as in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. 

This offering combines the latest advancements in cloud security, monitoring, resiliency, and operational analytics with a modern, cloud-native core. 

The FIS Modern Banking Platform helps banks design, build, and deploy new products and services. Through a platform that’s fully API-enabled, FIS’ real-time solution is cloud-native and provides financial institutions with advanced analytics. ‘Modern Banking Platform’ uses artificial intelligence and component-based architecture and is built to be highly configurable while providing next-level security for financial institutions and their customers.

Andrew Beatty, FIS’ head of enterprise banking, commented that they are incredibly excited for financial institutions in more countries to experience the Modern Banking Platform that is cloud-native through Microsoft Azure.

“Teaming with Microsoft allows us to provide a secure, scalable, and compliant SaaS solution in the cloud that helps financial institutions adapt to complex and changing regulations in multiple jurisdictions. Deployment via Azure also provides our clients with elasticity, meaning banks can quickly update their infrastructure to adjust to the volume of business. It’s a solution that allows us to offer the same high level of support and operations that we currently provide with the FIS private cloud,” said Beatty.

Meanwhile, Bill Borden, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of worldwide financial services, shared that they are pleased to partner with FIS to help more financial institutions modernise their payments and core banking to meet rising customer expectations and drive new value.

“Running on Microsoft Azure, FIS’ Modern Banking Platform delivers a flexible, data-driven solution to deepen customer relationships and roll out products more quickly, while managing risk effectively,” said Borden.

Indonesia – DBS Foundation, an endeavour from DBS Bank to make a great impact in addressing Asia’s evolving social needs, has launched a new grant programme to support SMEs looking to kickstart their transition towards becoming more sustainable businesses. 

This new programme is an extension of the DBS Foundation’s ongoing support for social enterprises (SEs), as it endeavours to foster the growth of businesses-for-impact, which is defined as businesses with dual bottom lines of profit and impact, regardless of their stage of growth.

The new grant programme is in search of SMEs, which are incorporated in Indonesia, as well as in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and India, with innovative sustainability solutions. Their proposals should address at least one of the following areas, namely reducing energy consumption, reducing waste, or sustainable supply chains.

The grant awardees will be receiving a grant amount of up to IDR1,051,405,196, a structured mentorship and advisory support, where DBS Foundation and the DBS SME Banking team will work with each SME awardee to map out key milestones and impact outcomes across a two-year horizon, and support from broader DBS franchise to help promising grant awardees to scale their businesses, including a range of working capital, supply chain financing, and digital transformation solutions.

Joyce Tee, the group head of SME banking at DBS and the board member of DBS Foundation, shared that while their engagement with SME owners has revealed their keen interest in adopting more sustainable business models, they are often caught up with operational matters and may lack the bandwidth or resources to begin. 

“This is a gap that the DBS Foundation aims to fill with the new SME Grant Programme, which will help SMEs take their first step towards transforming into businesses for impact. Beyond grant funding, DBS will also avail our suite of sustainable financing solutions, ecosystem platforms and advisory services to help the most promising SME awardees accelerate their transformation efforts,” said Tee.

Singapore – dentsu Asia Pacific has appointed Farrokh Madon, former chief creative officer at creative and CRM agency Wunderman Thompson, to be its new chief creative officer for APAC at B2B-dedicated CXM agency Merkle B2B.

Aside from his previous role at Wunderman Thompson, Madon has a career spanning Singapore, Amsterdam and India, where he has previously led various creative departments in Singapore at BBDO, McCann Erickson, and Y&R, which has been renamed VMLY&R following a merger with VML. He has also worked with major brands including BMW, Lazada, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, Gillette, and Caltex, as well as Suntory, and Diageo. 

In his new role, Madon, who will be based in Singapore, will be overseeing Merkle B2B’s creative directions and strategies to impart creative technology solutions and innovative customer experience. He will also be reporting directly to Kiaran Geen, the president of Asia Pacific at Merkle B2B, and Rhys Taylor, the managing director of strategy and creative for APAC at Merkle B2B.

Commenting on his appointment, Madon said, “When storytelling and technology hold hands, magic happens. I am looking forward to creating engaging brand stories and experiences with the talented team at Merkle B2B.”

Meanwhile, Geen shared that Madon will be bringing his wealth of experience and expertise in creativity and design to Merkle B2B with out-of-the-box ideas and digital solutions to their ever-evolving customer journey.

“We look forward to having him on board to share his insights in creating a unique brand experience and bringing it to the next level at Merkle B2B,” said Geen.

Singapore – Marketing technology solutions provider AnyMind Group has integrated data enablement platform LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution and programmatic digital advertising company PubMatic’s Identity Hub into its publisher and e-commerce growth platform, AnyManager.

These integrations enable AnyMind Group’s online publishers and advertisers to communicate with enriched data, delivering greater measurability, whilst preserving audience privacy throughout the process.

Through these integrations, AnyManager’s header bidding solution for publishers will be able to provide connected demand sources with more information to better reach and engage with desired audiences. It also enables the easy implementation of LiveRamp’s people-based, privacy-first identifier, RampID, through the Authenticated Traffic Solution (ATS).

Once a publisher and AnyMind Group enter into an agreement, ATS is implemented on the login screen of the publisher’s site. ATS allows publishers to match authenticated user data with RampIDs in real-time, enabling advertising without reliance on third-party cookies or device-based identifiers. Advertisers leveraging RampID can unlock premium inventory, additional reach across browsers such as Safari and Firefox, and improved marketing tactics such as people-based audience targeting and frequency capping, amongst others.

Meanwhile, PubMatic’s Identity Hub integration enables publishers to simply turn on the integration with just a single button click on AnyManager for their header bidding wrapper and provides access to partnered ID solutions on Identity Hub including LiveRamp’s RampID, ID5 ID, and The Trade Desk’s Unified ID, amongst others.

CheeChien Chung, LiveRamp’s director of addressability for SEA, shared that the deprecation of third-party cookies and other identifiers has been a forcing function for innovation and improvement across the advertising industry, but more importantly, it’s highlighted that people-based marketing delivers superior performance, today.

“Publishers leveraging LiveRamp’s solutions via AnyMind can easily enable their inventory to be accessible to advertisers looking to buy and measure at the person-level on RampID, and can achieve outsized business results at scale, without compromising privacy,” said Chung.

Meanwhile, Hitoshi Maruyama, AnyMind Group’s managing director of publisher growth, said that web publishers in Asia have started exploring new business models such as media commerce and other means of content monetisation, whilst the ad tech industry has innovated to provide means for publishers to continue benefiting from ad revenue. 

“AnyMind Group is now where the facets of next-generation commerce, ad monetisation and media improvement meet, providing web and app publishers with various possibilities for exponential growth,” said Maruyama.

Singapore – Customer experience platform Emplifi has launched Emplifi ShopStream by Go Instore, a one-to-many live shopping experience that helps brands reach unlimited audiences through interactive live video streaming. This release comes quickly after Emplifi’s acquisition of Go Instore and its innovative live video streaming portfolio in September 2021.

According to Emplifi, its expansion into live commerce builds on its strategy to help brands provide outstanding experiences across marketing, commerce, and care touchpoints. With ShopStream, retail and direct-to-consumer brands can now enjoy connecting and converting consumers from browsing to buying through the power of both one-to-one and one-to-many live stream video. 

Moreover, Emplifi ShopStream will enable brands to go live in a matter of minutes, using anything from a basic phone camera to professional camera equipment, an app for mobile or desktop, and Emplifi ShopStream tools. Brands can scale their live feed across their social channels and a website to launch new campaigns and products, amplify influencer events, or deliver immersive demo experiences. 

With ShopStream, consumers can instantly participate in a live stream video and interact in a real-time chat with the host or advisor. They can also, at the click of a button, connect directly with a product expert for one-on-one personal guidance through Emplifi’s Live Advisor. The combination of ShopStream and Live Advisor helps brands improve engagement and personalisation through each step of an individual’s customer journey, resulting in faster consideration and purchase. 

Andre Hordagoda, Emplifi’s co-general manager of social commerce, said, “With ShopStream, brands can harness the power of live streaming throughout the entire customer journey, from end to end. ShopStream is a key addition to Emplifi’s wider Social Commerce Cloud and can help companies maximise profits by increasing customer engagement and boosting sales.”

Meanwhile, Varun Sharma, Emplifi’s vice president for APAC and Japan, shared that from February to June 2020, total hours streamed on online marketplaces like ShopeeLive grew almost 200% in Singapore and Malaysia, and in Singapore alone, Shopee saw live streams from brands and sellers increase by 40 times.

“Live commerce offers direct, real-time and conversational connection with brands, as opposed to the stagnated experience of e-commerce. Data shows that live commerce drives eight times higher conversion rates than e-commerce. With the launch of ShopStream, Emplifi enables businesses to curate interactive and engaging live shopping experiences for their customers,” Sharma said.

Singapore – Data AI company, data.ai, and global digital advertising technical standards-setting body, IAB Tech Lab, have partnered to improve transparency and prevent fraud in the digital advertising industry. 

This partnership aims to provide the digital advertising industry with a list of Authorized Digital Sellers for Apps (app-ads.txt) and is now made available as part of IAB Tech Lab’s Transparency Center initiative. 

Through this partnership, IAB Tech Lab and data.ai are taking a proactive role in making authorized seller listings more easily accessible for mobile apps. data.ai has built an integration with IAB Tech Lab to share its data on app store listings to expand the coverage of app-ads.txt data available within the Tech Lab’s Transparency Center. Advertisers will see wider coverage of app-ads.txt data from both Google Play and Apple’s App Store. 

Ketaki Rao, data.ai’s chief product officer, commented, “We are excited to work with the IAB Tech Lab to establish a standard of trust across the mobile advertising landscape. data.ai sets the example for transparency and trust in the alternative data space and this partnership is a testament to that commitment.” 

Meanwhile, Shailley Singh, IAB Tech Lab’s SVP of product, shared this integration with data.ai has enabled them to expand their coverage of app-ads.txt data in the ‘Authorized Sellers for Apps’ list, which is made available to the industry through the Transparency Center. 

“We are thrilled to partner with data.ai, and look forward to bringing more transparency to the Mobile in-app space through this partnership,” said Singh.