Tag: Expansion

Singapore – Redhill, the Singapore-headquartered full-service global communications agency, has expanded its presence in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) with its strategic inclusion in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), a renowned international financial center located in Abu Dhabi. 

Redhill’s strategic inclusion in the ADGM expands its access to new commercial prospects in Abu Dhabi and around the region. The presence of the agency at ADGM also enables other ADGM-registered firms, investments, and startups with a co-located partner that specializes in the entire range of communications advice and can drive regional and global expansion.

The addition of Redhill to the ADGM shows the agency’s rapid worldwide growth momentum. In 2021, Redhill established a footprint in South Korea, and throughout 2022, it went a step further with its first acquisition, Hong Kong-based Creative Consulting Group (CCG) – a synergistic move that will help Redhill grow its presence and service offering in Asia. These are in addition to Redhill’s current presences in Australia, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United States, and other countries.

Anit Kurian, managing director of  Middle East & Africa at Redhill, shared that Redhill chose to start in the ADGM because they believe in the value of a strong presence in the UAE’s capital. 

“We now have a launchpad to help our international clients amplify their reach in the MEA region; in turn, our global network enables us to broadcast the stories of and from Abu Dhabi to the world. There is excellent synergy between Redhill and the ADGM, and we are proud to be the first PR agency within its vibrant ecosystem,” Kurian said. 

Dhaher bin Dhaher Al Mheiri, CEO of registration authority at ADMG, commented, “The ADGM’s robust, progressive business-friendly ecosystem has attracted some of the world’s most competitive and aspirational businesses to build their regional headquarters here, and that includes Redhill. Aligning with Abu Dhabi’s broader growth strategy, our vision is to build a globally competitive pool of businesses that can serve not just the MEA region, but also the international market.”

“As an international Financial Centre, we look forward to welcoming more businesses from Asia and beyond who are looking for a steppingstone to the UAE and the wider region,” Al Mheiri adds.

To date, Redhill has worked with various clients in and from the region such as the World Police Summit, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, East Ventures and Moglix. The agency has also established a second office in Dubai Media City with plans to double its regional headcount in 2022.

Singapore – Global investing platform Gotrade has expanded to Indonesia to enable Indonesian users to invest as little as US$1 in the likes of Tesla, Apple, and Netflix, amongst others, on a commission-free platform.

According to Gotrade, it has picked Indonesia as the first market to launch a local version of the platform because it was there that the problem seemed most pressing with mutual fund fees frequently exceeding 5%. Interestingly, local brokers are not permitted to offer foreign securities within the country, but are permitted to offer derivatives of foreign securities. 

With this in mind, Gotrade has partnered with Valbury Asia Futures, the Jakarta Futures Exchange, and the Futures Clearing House of Indonesia – all regulated by Bappebti, the derivatives regulator in Indonesia, to design a fully backed derivative that gives the end-users market access to U.S. stocks.

The teams at Gotrade, Valbury, the Jakarta Futures Exchange and Kliring Berjangka Indonesia worked closely with local regulators to enable dollar-based investing and nine-decimal places fractional share investing. For instance, if Tesla is trading at US$1,000/share, user can buy 1/1,000th of a Tesla share for US$1.

Andrew Haryono, Gotrade’s co-founder Andrew Haryono, noted that their team is on a mission to completely reinvent investing for millions of Indonesians. 

” I am thrilled to be a part of the team at Gotrade and am excited to be a part of the next phase of the company’s hypergrowth,” said Haryono.

Just recently, Gotrade has also raised US$15.5m in a Series A round led by Velocity Capital Fintech Ventures. This newly secure fund will help the platform grow its team of 40 and launch localised versions of its product in various markets, starting with the Southeast Asia region.

Manila, Philippines – GrowSari, the local B2B e-commerce platform that serves sari-sari stores or local mom-and-pop stores in the Philippines, has raised US$77.5m as part of its Series C funding, bringing its total funding to around US$110m. This newly secured fund will be used in accelerating GrowSari’s national expansion. 

According to Growsari, from a base of 1,000 sari-sari stores in three cities back in 2018, the platform has grown to service more than 100,000 stores in over 220 municipalities across Luzon. In addition, it has expanded rapidly and further into other MSMEs/non-sari-sari store formats nationwide over the last 12 months.

Reymund ‘ER’ Rollan, GrowSari’s CEO and co-founder, believes that not only will this funding allow them to fuel their growth, but this will also help them bring top global quality talent in operations, technology, and data science into the startup ecosystem of the Philippines.

“We are strategic in choosing investors, and we have deepened our partnership with those who can support this next phase of growth, on the core as well as financial services. We remain open to partnering with all other local and international companies as we transform this MSME space,” said Rollan.

Meanwhile, Siddhartha Kongara, GrowSari’s CTO and co-founder, shared that they have already launched in the Visayas, with Iloilo as the first city, and will launch in Mindanao soon, and they also have the largest B2B fulfilment network and will have 50-plus fulfilment centres nationwide.

“We are also fast progressing on our vision to use the GrowSari technology stack to help other companies in their logistics and e-commerce journeys. We already have more than 10 traditional companies that are leveraging the platforms to improve their business operations,” said Kongara.

This round’s funding was joined by investors International Finance Corporation (IFC), KKR, which led the Series C round, and Pavilion Capital of the Temasek Group, along with almost all existing investors. GrowSari is also in talks for the next round of funding, as there is a significant demand from marquee funds.

Stephanie von Friedeburg, IFC’s senior vice president of operations, said, “Our investment will enable Growsari to expand digital adoption and financial services for MSMEs, which is critical to keep them competitive, and for a resilient and inclusive recovery.”

Philippines — PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications has struck an agreement with South Korea’s T1, one of the pioneering esports organizations in the world. Through the partnership, Smart will provide facilities that will assist T1’s expansion in the Philippines.

As part of its goal to boost the esports industry in the country, Smart will house the online MOBA game DOTA 2 Team of T1 and power its connectivity during their boot camp and tournaments. Three Filipino esports athletes are also part of T1’s roster: Carlo ‘Kuku’ Palad, Khim ‘Gabbi’ Villafuerte, and Karl Jayme.

Jude H. Turcuato, first vice president and head of sports at PLDT and Smart, said that they are more than delighted to help their former coach Kuku and welcome T1 to the Philippines. Turcuato added that this is part of Smart’s advocacy to help develop esports in the Philippines and empower Filipino esports athletes as they make their mark in the global arena.

“We just want to take this opportunity to thank Smart and Smart Omega for helping us with our boot camp. They have also helped us get professional IT support on standby, especially during official matches. The facilities are good, and the place is safe as well,” Palad said.

Smart Omega is the professional esports team backed by Smart.

T1, along with eight other squads in the region, is set to play in the Southeast Asia Dota Pro Circuit Division I this month. T1 won first place in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 2 – SEA Upper Division and ESL One Summer 2021; second place for DPC SEA 2021-2022 Tour 1 Regional Finals, and landing in the top 7-8 of The International 10 in 2021. Founded in 2003, T1 is also known for their three-time world championship title for League of Legends.

Vietnam — The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) has announced the launch of PRCA Vietnam and PRCA Thailand, as part of its expansion plans in the Southeast Asian region. The PRCA’s launch of both sub-groups owes to these countries’ fast-growing economies and a proven base of talented communications professionals.

A team of founding members in Vietnam and Thailand has been established to help deliver the association’s mission to create a professional, ethical, and efficient PR industry in the region. Founding members of the Vietnam Group include EloQ Communications, Vero, and The Vietnam Public Relation Network. Meanwhile, founding members of the Thailand Group include ABM Connect, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Midas PR, Moonshot Digital, MSL, and Vero.

Francis Ingham, director general of PRCA, commented that they are delighted to announce the latest stage of their global expansion, launching PRCA Vietnam and PRCA Thailand. Ingham added that as part of PRCA Southeast Asia, this new grouping of practitioners joins the world’s largest PR association, opening up a whole range of services, insights, and connections. Ingham continues by saying that their industry has never been more international, and this latest development will be welcomed by our members across the 70 countries in which they live and work.

Through the expansion, PRCA will provide local professionals with access to local, regional, and global events, training, and professional development opportunities.

Tara Munis, general manager of PRCA SEA, said, “The launch of PRCA Vietnam and PRCA Thailand is an exciting chapter in our growth across the region. The PR industry has a very important role to play in helping companies not only say the right thing but more importantly, to counsel businesses on doing the right thing in what is a complex world. PRCA’s mission is to deliver world-class support and representation to PR professionals across the world. Among our priorities is to ensure the business community understands how vital PR is to succeed in today’s marketplace. Today’s news brings us one step closer towards that goal.”

Duy Ly, head of external relations at EloQ Communications MPRCA, said that as the first Vietnamese agency to join PRCA, and now a founding member of PRCA Vietnam, EloQ Communications understands the importance of having a professional body to grow and move forward together.

“We continue to spread this spirit to other local agencies. We hope that PRCA Vietnam will bring PRCA’s global standards and training closer to Vietnamese PR practitioners through localized materials and events, access to universal PR ethics, knowledge, and practices to the local professionals while overcoming the language barrier. We have no doubt that PRCA Vietnam will contribute great values to leverage Vietnam’s PR industry to a higher standard than we are now,” Ly said.

Singapore – Global data and AI company Databricks has expanded its availability on Google Cloud for customers across APAC, with availability on Google Cloud’s Singapore and Sydney. 

The move aims to help organisations across SEA to leverage Databricks on Google Cloud, creating a lakehouse capable of data engineering, data science, machine learning, and analytics on Google Cloud’s network.

The SEA expansion is a reflection of growing demand from customers looking to adopt an open, modern lakehouse architecture and accelerate their cloud data strategy. Databricks on Google Cloud in Singapore enables greater flexibility and data locality choices for customers, and delivers enhanced performance and scalability while guaranteeing local data residency requirements. It is tightly integrated with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Google Big Query, Looker, and Google Cloud Storage, as well as Pub/Sub, giving customers the freedom of flexibility and access to their choice of data analytics services. 

Moreover, the expansion allows businesses across SEA and Australia to extend their existing Databricks lakehouse capabilities and can cross-leverage Google BigQuery for analytics, simplifying their data investments with an open, modern data platform for all of their analytics use cases.

Andrew Martin, Databrick’s head of South Asia, shared that they will continue to make significant investments in building their local capabilities in Singapore to meet the future needs of SEA’s rapidly growing data and AI communities.

“From fast-growing digital natives to large global enterprises, we continue to see incredible demand across the region. We are excited to work with Google to help accelerate our customers’ data and AI journey in this region together,” said Martin.

Meanwhile, Amitabh Jacob, Google Cloud’s head of technology, ISV, and solutions partnerships for APAC, noted that cloud-driven transformation will underpin SEA’s growing internet economy that is expected to be at US$1t by the end of the decade.

“Our strategic collaboration with Databricks to deliver lakehouse architecture on Google Cloud’s regional, scalable platform, and combined expertise in data engineering and AI-driven analytics, will enable companies to harness the power of data and tap into evolving digital models,” said Jacob.

In addition, the partnership also has a comprehensive ecosystem of joint partners that deliver seamless integrations and expertise across the platforms, including Accenture, Cognizant, Deloitte, Informatica, Qlik, and Tableau, as well as TCS, and Trifacta, amongst others.

Los Angeles, California — Prolific video game developer Riot Games has announced its expansion into several countries in the Asia Pacific (APAC) as part of its business reorganization in the region. 

With a focus on hyper-localisation and fresh plans to extend its publishing reach to Japan and India, Riot Games will also open new publishing offices in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Riot had previously run the SEA business out of its Singapore hub office and also had an office in Japan.

Riot has also brought in Alex Kraynov, its previous managing director of emerging markets for Southeast Asia, India, Latin America, Brazil, Middle East, North Africa, and Japan, as the new managing director for APAC to lead publishing.

The reorganization will also see a diversification of Riot’s operating model with publishing at the forefront, alongside its other business pillars of games, entertainment, esports and enterprise.

In this effort to strengthen their presence APAC, Riot has made the following regional appointments namely Shinji Komiyama as director of country management for APAC, Jennifer Poulson as head of publishing partnerships for APAC, Alasdair Gray as head of marketing for APAC, and Derek Winder as head of business development for APAC. Riot also made some appoint for its local division namely Yasushi Fujimoto as country manager of Japan, Joel Guzman as country manager of the Philippines, and Resha Pradipta as country manager of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Since re-establishing its Singapore HQ for Southeast Asia in 2018, Riot has significantly grown its workforce and is now doubling down on publishing in the region. This organizational expansion translates into the establishment of local offices and hiring country managers in key markets such as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, joining publishing forces with Riot’s Japan office, and enhancing its publishing hub in Singapore to over 80 people across the region. Key departments within APAC Publishing include country operations, publishing partnerships, brand marketing, growth marketing and services, business development, and regional tech. 

Alex Kraynov, managing director of Riot Games Asia Pacific, commented that this is a natural step in progression for Riot’s publishing business in Southeast Asia, and they recognized that APAC has the potential to become the biggest region in the world for the company. Kraynov continued by saying that APAC is intricately diverse, with massive gaming communities that have diverse needs and a strong appetite for mobile gaming. 

“In the past few years, our offices in Singapore and Japan have worked hard to release several new games and have nurtured new esports leagues to excite and delight players. Working towards more physical presence in our key APAC markets, we’re extremely excited to double down on these efforts to continue striving towards being the most player-focused gaming company in the world,” Kraynov said. 

Beyond the gaming space, Riot has also released projects and campaigns in animation adaptation, music, and fashion. More recently, Riot also collaborated with Filipino urban streetwear brand Team Manila on an exclusive capsule collection to celebrate the launch of Neon, the first Filipino agent in its tactical shooter VALORANT.

With the goal of being the most player-focused game company in the world, Riot has in the last couple of years launched new titles including its recent shooter hit VALORANT. Riot’s games within the League of Legends universe have garnered over 600 million players globally in the past decade.

Malaysia – Digital commerce enabler with SEA presence, CREA, has announced its expansion in Malaysia to strengthen its regional presence. The move follows the appointment of Katrina Neo, former sales director at dairy products manufacturer Dutch Lady, to be CREA’s new chief executive officer (CEO) in Malaysia.

Neo brings with her extensive in-market landscape knowledge. Aside from Dutch Lady, Neo held leadership roles in a range of companies such as Kraft, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Kimberly-Clark, where she was instrumental in driving commercial transformation. She was also responsible for implementing various go-to-market strategies that led to market share and revenue growth for the brands.

In her new role, Neo will help drive CREA’s growth and scalability. Her industry expertise coupled with CREA’s innovative technology will help brands under CREA grow by maximising their scale and reach with a single multi-channel solution. As CREA onboards new brands and expands its presence into Malaysia, she will be instrumental in spearheading localisation efforts for those brands.

Commenting on her appointment, Neo said, “The Malaysian market presents a great opportunity for growth, and CREA’s innovative solutions will help brands in Malaysia tackle the complex world of digital commerce and scale across different platforms. With CREA’s capabilities and technology firmly in place, I look forward to hitting the ground running with the team.”

Meanwhile, Aimone di Ripa Meana, CREA’s founder and Co-CEO, commented that they are excited to have Katrina on board to help drive the company’s next phase of growth in Malaysia, following their significant investment to build capabilities in the market. 

“We believe that with her experience as a business leader, and her extensive industry knowledge, Katrina can help brands in Malaysia navigate the complexity of the fragmented digital space and achieve e-commerce success across multiple channels. We are confident that our continued success in Southeast Asia, led by our power-based market of Thailand, can be replicated in Malaysia, under Katrina’s leadership,” he said.

India – Advertising company FCB Group in India has announced its footprint expansion in South Asia with the launch of its new fully integrated marketing communications agency FCB KL.LK.

FCB KL.LK is the newest affiliate office under the FCB Group India umbrella. The agency works with marquee clients and brands including Ceylon Biscuits, HNB credit cards, Fairfirst life Insurance, and Ultratech Cement, as well as Godrej Consumer products. 

The new agency partnership aims to bring forth the KL.LK expertise in brands, coupled with FCB’s Never Finished philosophy – ‘to do timely and timeless work for clients’. 

Rohit Ohri, FCB Group India’s chairman and CEO, commented that they are delighted to partner with KL.LK in Sri Lanka, as it is a young, future-ready agency that is growing very rapidly with many global multi-national clients. 

“With this association, we are hoping to offer seamless service to many of our clients who look at South Asia as a contiguous market,” said Ohri.

Meanwhile, Brandon Cooke, the global partner, global chief marketing, and reputation officer of FCB Global, believes that the creative passion and business momentum made KL.LK the perfect partner for them in the Sri Lankan market. 

“As we continue on our global mission to unleash creativity fuelled by diversity, data and technology, we’re incredibly excited about the opportunities that lie ahead as we expand our footprint across this region to a new client base,” said Cooke. 

Santosh Menon, FCB KL.LK’s chairman and CEO, commented, “I came to Sri Lanka first in 2003 as a team member of FCB for its clients here. Today, bringing FCB back in its latest avatar as part of KL.LK gives me special pleasure and happiness. It’s the wheel turning full circle.”

Manila, Philippines – ASEAN Fintech Group (AFG), a venture corporation focusing on fintech acceleration has acquired digital payments provider JazzyPay, marking the venture corporation’s expansion to the Philippines. The acquisition value of JazzyPay is valued at US$1.8m.

With the acquisition, AFG looks to leverage JazzyPay’s existing partnerships with leading national banks, e-wallets and payment processors of the metropolitan city. The platform’s team of founders and key management personnel will continue to spearhead the business’ growth, with accelerated resources and support at the group level. 

Kathleen Acosta-Marindo, co-founder and COO at JazzyPay said, “We believe working together and being a part of AFG’s fast-growing portfolio of companies will enhance our capabilities across ASEAN, fast-tracking the advancement of Southeast Asia’s fintech ecosystem and digital future.”

AFG’s expansion to the Philippines is part of its 2022 plans, which include expansion into Vietnam and Cambodia. AFG aims to create a regional omnichannel platform in the fintech space.

To date, AFG has in total invested more than US$10m to date on strategic mergers and acquisitions of burgeoning fintech startups within the region. Founders and institutional investors of the startups joining ASEAN Fintech Group were further incentivized with newly issued AFG shares, forming new partnerships with aligned interests towards the growth of the group. 

For Douglas Gan, executive director at ASEAN Fintech Group, with fintech in Southeast Asia seeing a tremendous growth in 2021, they are bullish that this rapid growth will continue into 2022 as they continue to acquire and merge with companies in the ASEAN region showing solid fundamentals.

“In fact, most of the companies that have joined us come with strong founders whose businesses are either profitable or near profitability. We also see a more matured fintech regulatory framework, guiding us through the complexities of each market. We are at a true inflection point for ASEAN fintech and we are honored to have the support of the fintech ecosystem at large,” Gan stated.