Tag: Joint venture

Manila, Philippines – The integrated marketing communications agency in the Philippines, MullenLowe TREYNA, has announced its acquisition of a controlling interest at UX and UI company Quiddity Usability Labs. The new joint venture from this new move will be called Qairos, Inc.

Under the binding terms of the agreement, Quiddity will be winding down in September 2021 as Qairos will be scheduled to formally begin operations by October 2021.

The recent development adds UX/UI expertise to complement MullenLowe TREYNA’s hyper bundled business solutions, which has rapidly grown in recent years with similar expansions in PR and digital communications. 

Moreover, the two companies will be combining their roster of clients, which includes brands across several industries like FMCGs, finance, e-commerce, and pharmaceuticals, as well as travel, and telecommunications, among others.

Mike Trillana, MullenLowe TREYNA’s CEO and chairman, commented that the move is their biggest M&A activity to date, and they could not be any more excited with this partnership.

“The UX/UI capabilities of Quiddity are the best-in-its class in the country. Denise Haak, Vanessa Julian, and the team are kindred spirits, and we all buy into The Challenger Mentality as a way of life. This brings us one step closer to our vision of being our client’s preferred Creative Business Solutions partner,” said Trillana. 

Meanwhile, Denise Haak, the president and CEO at Qairos Inc, believes that partnering with MullenLowe TREYNA will surely propel them to a larger world of users, helping make things better, one usable product at a time, and they cannot be more excited for this partnership. 

Leigh Reyes, MullenLowe TREYNA’s chairman emeritus, said, “As technology becomes even more present in our daily lives, creativity and innovation are key to humanizing not only communication but even business vision and strategy and product development. I am thrilled to be part of this new adventure.”

MullenLowe TREYNA said that Qairos Inc’s new board will include Mike Trillana as the chairman, Mehrdad Jamshidi as the chief financial officer, and Leigh Reyes.

In October 2020, MullenLowe was rebranded to MullenLowe TREYNA, which came after Interpublic Group of Company’s (IPG) local shareholders bought shares in Mullenlowe Philippines’ holding company Treyna Holdings Inc.

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam – Following its first expansion into the Malaysian market, a new joint venture between the Malaysian subsidiary of Japan-based e-gift service Giftee and marketing communications company Mekong Communications has been announced, which signals the expansion of the e-gift service to Vietnam.

Through Giftee Mekong joint venture, both companies will focus on two core objectives: to distribute e-gifts, or digital vouchers catered to the retail and F&B industry, and to provide various digital marketing incentive solutions to businesses in Vietnam through a program ‘giftee for Business’.

To materialize these venture objectives, Giftee Mekong will bank on Giftee’s business expertise on the scale of the e-gift industry, evident with its extensive business in Japan and Malaysia, while Mekong Communications will use its extensive client network of F&B businesses for engagement of digital marketing services for corporations.

In short, it is to be expected that various business synergies will be implemented to the venture’s new clients such as enabling brands to issue e-gifts, or opening markets for e-gift providers to enable corporations to incorporate e-gifts into the business strategy, as well being offered with various solutions combining digital marketing strategies with e-gifts.

First founded in 2010 in Japan and currently represented by directors Mutsumi Ota and Tatsuya Suzuki, the company offers four services for consumers and businesses: giftee-C2C gift service, e-gift System, giftee for business and Welcome! STAMP, an electronic system making engagement with local businesses easier, including e-local currency, e-payment for transport systems and local taxes, and so forth. Said expansion into the ASEAN region started first with the incorporation of Giftee Malaysia in 2018.

“E-gifting service has experienced steady growth for the last few years in Vietnam but it is still far from reaching its maximum potential. Digital transformation is a survival strategy for most companies. We believe that Giftee can contribute significantly to the digital transformation of Vietnam as well as bringing the convenience of e-gifting service to local users,” said Le Bui Kim Son, CEO of Giftee Mekong.

Meanwhile, Mekong Communications is part of a larger corporate network known as Mekong One, which focuses on three main areas: marketing communications, distribution solutions, and real estate strategic consulting and advisory. With more than 12 years of experience in being well-informed about the environment and reality as well as the potential advantages of the Vietnam market, Mekong Communications holds the reputation of being an authorized strategic partner of a broad range of giant companies, especially Japanese companies in the Vietnam market.

“We are confident that with our core competencies, well-informed experience in the Vietnam market, digital infrastructure, and artificial intelligence…The collaboration between Mekong One and Giftee will make a great difference not only in products and services but also contribute to improving the experience for the Vietnam market and Vietnamese users,” said Nghia Vo, general Director of Mekong Communications and member of Mekong One.

Singapore – As Singapore braces for the reopening of the China market, Singapore fintech Aleta Planet has formed a joint venture (JV) with software development Fooyo to offer digital marketing and e-commerce solutions to meet rising demand from Singapore businesses preparing for the reopening of the China market.

The JV, called AP Studios, will develop digital tools that will help merchants provide a richer, more interactive payment experience as well as engage their customers through the popular WeChat marketing platform in China.

With AP Studios, Aleta Planet, which is already connecting merchants to the UnionPay network in China and in 179 markets globally, will be able to offer a comprehensive and seamless marketing payment solution to these merchants.

AP Studios’ tools, which range from payment checkout webpages and chatbots to WeChat/Alipay mini programs, crowd-control monitoring solutions and interactive tourism apps, can be customized for merchants in retail, medical, education, tourism, government and other industries.

A variety of apps can be created in the WeChat mini program. For example, one app promotes F&B merchants through a food trail itinerary where customers can pre-order food and read reviews; another offers virtual campus tours of a list of universities to foreign students and allows them to pay for school expenses and course fees within the mini program.

Fooyo was founded by Li Shaohuan in 2014 and three former schoolmates from the National University of Singapore namely Fooyo’s Co-Founder and Senior Project Manager, Liu Yangfan and Fooyo’s Co-Founder and CTO, Chen Zeyu.

Ryan Gwee, founder and group chairman at Aleta Planet said, “Everything we do as a fintech company is about innovation and getting the best talent to partner us. Shaohuan and his team have tremendous talent, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and app design, and we are excited to launch AP Studios with Fooyo to expand our suite of digital marketing tools.

He also added that many of their clients have expressed the need for an all-in-one solution that will grow their digital presence in China. They believe that this venture will provide them with a holistic and comprehensive e-commerce solution to achieve targets more efficiently.

“Aleta Planet has always been open to exploring new areas of cooperation. This is part of our growth strategy to expand beyond payments to cover other services related to checkout, digital marketing, customer experience and engagement,” Gwee added.

Shaohuan will head AP Studios as managing director of the solutions team, under the Aleta Planet Group. The team’s combined expertise in AI, big data solutions, robotics and cloud computing has enabled Fooyo to clinch several government-commissioned projects.

“This joint venture between a growing fintech company and a smart SaaS solution company will have an amplification effect for both our businesses. It is going to be a win-win solution. We aim to work with more industries and expand to countries beyond Singapore together,” he stated.