Tag: Society Pass

Manila, Philippines – Fintech and e-commerce ecosystem Society Pass Incorporated (SoPA) announced the official launch of its digital advertising platform Thoughtful Media Group Inc. (TMG) in the Philippines market and the upcoming appointment of Billy Soo as country head of TMG Philippines. 

Soo will be responsible for driving sales and onboarding Philippine clients onto TMG’s regional digital advertising platform. 

TMG’s entry into the Philippines market offers a significant value proposition to advertisers, merchants, and influencers in Southeast Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

TMG collaborates with social media platforms, advertisers, and influencers to develop the entire creator economy in the Philippines and benefit from the country’s forecasted soar in digital advertising revenues over the next decade as more consumers make direct purchases on social media platforms. 

SoPa acquired TMG in 2022, and it has grown from operating exclusively in its headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, to expanding to Vietnam in 4Q 2022, to Indonesia in 1Q 2023, and now to the Philippines in 3Q 2023. 

Dennis Nguyen, SoPa founder/chairman/CEO and TMG chairman, stated, “We are very pleased to bring the Philippines market into the TMG ecosystem. TMG’s disruptive advertising platform, combining over 10,000 talented creators, market-leading design/branding capabilities, influencer advertising-focused social commerce services, will generate massive storytelling capabilities and revenue generation opportunities for local, regional and international advertisers seeking to market in the Philippines.” 

He added, “By leveraging our local knowledge of market trends from other offices in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, TMG provides international quality advertising products and services for our brand partners as well as significant revenue generating opportunities for Philippines creators”.

“I am very excited to hire Billy Soo to head our TMG Philippines operations. Billy brings a wealth of experience in gaming and advertising from his time at Gushcloud International, Nixgen Entertainment, and Powerplay Inc. I look forward to seeing Billy and his team create the most unique and powerful advertising platform here in the Philippines,” Nguyen continued.

On his upcoming appointment, Soo commented, “Bonding through the power of influence, we want to create a genuine connection for brands and content creators, tapping into TMG’s broad advertising network and extensive ecosystem to open new doors towards more business opportunities, capitalising on digital-first and fully integrated advertising networks.”

He added, “Nguyen hired me to turbocharge TMG’s expansion here in the land of the Kabayan. In just five weeks’ time, we have already built a staff of 10+ Manila-based advertising professionals. TMG Philippines will offer premium branded campaigns, MCN, sports marketing and e-sports verticals and we look forward to serving the creator and advertiser communities.”

Singapore – Fintech and e-commerce ecosystem Society Pass, has announced a strategic payments partnership with Singaporean global full-suite payments platform 2C2P to enhance the e-commerce experience in SEA. 

Through this partnership, Society Pass’s loyalty application would be able to offer 2C2P’s selection of alternative payment options to customers based in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Rokas Sidlauskas, chief marketing officer of Society Pass, shared their excitement to announce the partnership with 2C2P as it enables them to offer more flexible and convenient methods to pay for goods and services within their ecosystem. 

“By integrating leading Southeast Asia digital e-wallets such as AliPay, Touch n’ Go, Momo or GCash just to name a few into our ecosystem, Society Pass enables millions of customers to access our platforms, ranging from travel, to e-commerce, to telecoms, and to digital advertising. This is especially important considering that we operate in Southeast Asian markets, where unfortunately, over 75% of people are unbanked and do not possess debit or credit cards,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Rachelle Alexis Lim, executive director of 2C2P, said, “As we embark on this strategic partnership with Society Pass, we look forward to enhancing the payments experience of SOPA’s consumers across SEA. This collaboration with SoPa aligns perfectly with our mission to drive e-commerce growth in the region and globally, revolutionising how people transact and unlocking the potential of the digital economy for all.”

Singapore – Gorilla, the mobile telecommunications branch of Society Pass (SoPa), a fintech and e-commerce ecosystem in Southeast Asia, has announced the release of its latest mobile telecommunications app, which aims to deliver a broad range of capable digital mobile communication options intended for both SEA travellers and working professionals.

With its e-SIM technology, Gorilla collaborated with more than 500 mobile operators in 190 countries to provide roaming mobile data to business travellers in the SEA region and globally. This product functions as a virtual SIM card integrated into the user’s phone, removing the need for a physical SIM card. It will allow customers to manage numerous cellular providers on a single device, allowing for seamless travel as well as distinct personal and commercial subscriptions. 

The Gorilla telco will launch its ‘Switchback Rewards’ feature in 2023, where users can utilise this tool to convert unused mobile data and credit into SOPA loyalty points, which can be redeemed for incentives and offers across the SOPA platform. Gorilla’s virtual mobile number provides consumers with low-cost data plans for global internet connectivity.

Rokas Sidlauskas, chief marketing officer of SoPa, explainsed that Gorilla’s next-generation technology is targeted at the fast-growing business travel segment here in SEA. 

“Our digital e-SIM product allows customers to buy data credit and stay connected online with their mobile devices while travelling abroad. By 2H 2023, our suite of services will expand into local e-SIM provisions. Gorilla plans to offer a revolutionary Switchback Rewards feature, allowing any unused mobile data and credit to be converted into SOPA Loyalty Points and redeemed for awards across the ecosystem,” he said.

Singapore – Society Pass, through its digital advertising arm Thoughtful Media Group, has recently announced that it is teaming up with global independent omnichannel sell-side advertising platform Magnite to create a retail media network in Southeast Asia through delivering targeted content, messaging, and experiences to the region’s concentrated populations of online consumers and merchants.

The TMG Media Network offers brand advertisers exposure to consumers in Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, including the more than 3.3 million registered consumers on SoPa’s ecosystem. The network features premium inventory spanning its owned channels and the wider web, including display, mobile, video, social and digital out-of-home when fully deployed.

Meanwhile, Magnite enables programmatic activation and expands demand facilitation for TMG Media Network across its omnichannel inventory. Advertisers and publishers are then able to activate data from TMG Media Network through Magnite, unlocking new opportunities to reach audiences at scale across ad formats for brands.

Dennis Nguyen, chairman at Thoughtful Media Group, explains, “We are excited to launch the TMG Media Network, which provides advertisers access to influencer content creation, highly targeted 1st party e-commerce data, and social commerce opportunities at scale. As a leading retail marketing solution in SEA, the TMG Media Network incorporates a multi-faceted, data-driven approach to audience reach, engagement, and conversion, which provides for a more impactful brand and consumer experience.” 

He added, “And as data-driven social commerce becomes increasingly pervasive, TMG is well-positioned to power the region’s first media and advertising network with an end-to-end content, data, and supply solutions.”

Meanwhile, Gavin Buxton, managing director for Asia at Magnite, stated, “We are excited to work with one of Southeast Asia’s most innovative brands and platforms to drive meaningful growth through game-changing content, data, and technology. Activating SoPa’s expansive and growing audience data to scale impactful, multi-channel experiences shapes the way consumers engage and interact with brands.”

The recent partnership with Magnite comes weeks after Society Pass welcomed Rokas Sidlauskas as its newest chief marketing officer, as well as the recent beta launch of their loyalty app. Thoughtful Media Group is one of the many acquisitions Society Pass made, including Philippine delivery platforms Mangan and Pushkart.ph, and Vietnam-based delivery service Handycart under Dream Space.

Singapore – Rokas Sidlauskas, formerly affiliated with Hello Health Group, joins the leadership roster of loyalty platform Society Pass as its chief marketing officer. 

Prior to joining Society Pass, Sidlauskas held several roles at Hello Health Group, including leading its corporate development and handling the roles of head of product business solutions and head of branded services. He spent over two years at said company.

Sidlauskas was also the co-founder of digital marketing agency Lion&Lion and served as its vice president for business development from 2013 before moving to Australian social commerce company ENSOGO in 2014 as its vice president for sales.

Following the closure of ENSOGO’s Southeast Asian operations in 2016, Sidlauskas moved to gym-sharing platform start-up Passport Asia as its vice president for international business development. He then moved to fitness company CMG.ASIA as a director and venture lead, and served there for over two years. Lastly, he served as the chief executive officer and co-founder of home-based healthcare solution company GO.CARE.

Sidlauskas’ recent leadership announcement comes on top of its numerous acquisitions in Southeast Asia, including Philippine delivery platforms Mangan and Pushkart.ph, Thailand-based Thoughtful Media, and Vietnam-based delivery service Handycart under Dream Space.

Singapore – In the recent months, Society Pass or SoPa, the data-driven loyalty platform in SEA, has been ramping up its expansion in the region with a number of acquisitions; the most recent being MVNO Gorilla Networks in Singapore, and digital video multi-platform network Thoughtful Media in Bangkok. 

Today, SoPa marks a new buy-out under its group – Mangan.ph, the local restaurant delivery service in the Philippines. 

Founded in 2017, Mangan delivers restaurant food from over 1,200 partner restaurants to its over 500,000 registered users. According to the company, the delivery platform has generated more than 100,000 mobile app downloads to date. 

Operating in the country’s province Pampanga, Mangan’s geographic reach focuses on provincial areas and extends to 16 other cities such as Angeles City, San Fernando, Clark, Dau, Mabalacat, and Guagua among others. The newly acquired business will be integrated into SoPa’s F&B vertical, which includes Pushkart, which it acquired in February this year.

Country Manager of SoPa in the Philippines, Arbie Pagdangan, shared that they will be combining the robust technology and operational efficiency of Mangan with their own brand-building expertise. Combined with Pushkart, which delivers grocery food to consumers in Metro Manila, SoPa aims to create a food delivery behemoth to serve the Philippine market. 

“SoPa aims to double the number of registered users to over 800,000 and drive app downloads to over 200,000 by the end of 2023. We look forward to building out our next generation loyalty platform as well as opportunistically [acquiring] market leading companies in F&B, lifestyle, digital advertising and travel verticals in [the] Philippines for the rest of 2022,” said Pagdangan. 

Ralph Rile, co-founder and CEO of Mangan, commented, “When we started Mangan five years ago, our vision was to deliver delicious dishes from Pampanga’s wide array of cafes and restaurants right to our customer’s doorsteps in a hassle-free way. We have witnessed tremendous success in our initial goals, and now, aim to expand Mangan beyond Luzon Island to other regions in Philippines.”

“This is why joining forces with SoPa is our logical next step, and we are excited about the combined capabilities we will now bring to Mangan’s partners and customers,” added Rile. 

Louie Alcantara, co-founder and also chief technology officer of Mangan, added, “In a short span of time, with our easy-to-use technology interface, Mangan has established a reputation of being the top online local food delivery service, achieving over US$2 million in gross merchandise value yearly. Leveraging SoPa’s marketing platform and capital, we aim to increase GMV multiple fold by the end of 2022.”

Singapore – Society Pass (SoPa), the data-driven loyalty platform in SEA, has announced the acquisition of Thoughtful Media Group (Thoughtful Media), a social commerce-focused and premium digital video multi-platform network headquartered in Thailand which has an operating presence in the US, Vietnam, and the Philippines. 

The acquisition of Thoughtful Media marks SoPa’s first foray into Thailand and adds to SoPa’s growing ecosystem of technology-enabled companies located in the SEA countries of Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Just recently, SoPa has also acquired Singapore-based Gorilla Networks, a next-generation Web3-enabled MVNO.

Thoughtful Media creates and distributes digital advertising campaigns across its MPN in both SEA and the US. Advertisers leverage Thoughtful Media’s wide influencer network throughout SEA to market and sell advertising inventory exclusively with specific placement and ‘effect’. 

Thoughtful Media’s social commerce platform will be amplifying the reach and engagement of SoPa’s e-commerce ecosystem and retail partners. With this acquisition, SoPa aims to increase customer engagement whilst also focusing on the quality of relationships through a campaign-based approach enabled by this synergistic acquisition.

Specifically, Thoughtful Media’s digital advertising tools and expertise bolsters Society Points, SoPa’s paradigm-shifting loyalty platform. Through data-driven marketing campaigns, advertisers of all types utilise Society Points’ proprietary 1st party data to improve the targeting, efficacy, and efficiency of their digital marketing spend. SoPa’s product offering is seen to uniquely position Thoughtful Media as a leading SEA retail marketing and advertising hub for international and regional consumer brands.

Dennis Nguyen, SoPa founder, chairman, and CEO commented, “We are thrilled to have Thoughtful Media join the ever-expanding SoPa ecosystem. Thoughtful Media’s social commerce-focused business model perfectly complements our future growth strategy for Society Pass as we drive consumer eyeballs and generate revenues for riveting consumer brands throughout Southeast Asia. In addition, Society Pass is excited to complete our first Thailand acquisition and look forward to launching our SoPa loyalty platform to the 65 million consumers in Thailand”.

Meanwhile, Dan Thorman, Thoughtful Media CEO, said, “Partnering with Society Pass allows Thoughtful Media to unlock strategic opportunities with influencers and advertisers as well as design cross-marketing synergies for companies in the SoPa ecosystem. In doing so, we expect to drive tremendous revenue growth in 2022 and beyond.”

Singapore – Southeast Asia’s data-driven loyalty platform, Society Pass (SoPa), has launched the beta version of its universal, open-loop loyalty application, Society Pass, to earn and redeem loyalty points, Society Points, endeavouring to create permanent customer loyalty and replace cash discounting while generating additional revenues for merchants. 

According to SoPa, digital loyalty programmes are key to customer retention within highly competitive verticals and now call for interconnected experiences more than ever, and e-commerce shoppers demand multiple touchpoints to purchase goods and services, earn redeem loyalty points, and refer friends with frictionless ease. The platform’s multi-brand ecosystem allows consumers to earn and redeem points at numerous types of retailers, while facilitating a unified approach to customer rewards and incentives for merchants.

SoPa expects to finetune and integrate the beta version of its loyalty platform with selected groups of consumers and merchants in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, as well as Thailand, and Singapore in the second half of 2022. With the view of hard launching the loyalty platform in the fourth quarter of 2022, at such time, users can pay for goods and services in-store, in-app, or online. Society Pass’ digital wallet will allow users to pay for goods and services by scanning QR Codes and making payments via credit card, debit card, or Society Points. SoPa aims to provide an easy and convenient online e-commerce shopping experience, with a single UI/UX that integrates with all the businesses within its ecosystem.

Dennis Nguyen, Society Pass’ founder, chairman, and CEO, said that they designed a gorgeous user interface backed by sophisticated backend end infrastructure to kickstart a virtuous cycle of revenue generation and loyalty creation, where Society Pass and Society Points generate more revenues for merchants by retaining existing customers, attracting new customers, reducing customer turnover and syncing customer data through real-time, personalised marketing campaigns.

“As we said in our IPO last November 2021, we introduce Society Pass in 2Q 2022 with the view of creating permanent customer loyalty for merchants by designing unique, personalised experiences [for] consumers and make shopping even more rewarding across our family of brands. Our business strategy encourages cross-vertical shopping, ultimately keeping an increasing share of wallets within SoPa’s ecosystem. We are confident that our customers will redirect their spending to where they gain the most value: our loyalty program,” he added.

Singapore – Society Pass (SoPa), the data-driven loyalty and e-commerce ecosystem in SEA, has acquired Singapore-based Gorilla Networks (Gorilla), a next-generation Web3-enabled MVNO.

Established in Singapore in 2019, Gorilla utilises Web3 technology to operate an MVNO for its users in Southeast Asia. With network coverage to over 160 countries, Gorilla offers a full suite of mobile communication services such as local calls, international roaming, data, and SMS texting. Moreover, Gorilla enables its customers to convert unused mobile data into digital assets or Gorilla GO Tokens through its proprietary blockchain-based SwitchBack feature. 

Dennis Nguyen, SoPa founder, chairman and CEO, explained, “We are excited to make our first acquisition in Singapore, and welcome Gorilla into our SoPa family. Gorilla’s technology platform aligns well with our acquisition strategy as we incorporate Gorilla’s blockchain and Web3 capabilities onto the SoPa ecosystem and enable the new meta-economy for all our portfolio companies.” 

“From our Leflair lifestyle e-commerce platform to our Pushkart/Handycart F&B delivery services, as we roll out the Society Pass loyalty platform in the coming months, we leverage Gorilla’s technology to drive customer retention for merchants and create innovative revenue models for our ecosystem,” added Nguyen.

With the rebound of the travel market throughout Southeast Asia, Gorilla expects to dramatically increase its customer base by marketing to the region’s business and leisure travellers with its user-friendly technology platform. It plans to expand its MVNO services offering to Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia over the next 12 months.

“When we started Gorilla Networks three years ago, our vision was to build a democratised mobile communications service platform where users regardless of nationality, home location or mobile subscription plans can access essential telecoms services such as roaming and mobile data anywhere and everywhere throughout the world. Gorilla is currently transitioning existing web 2 telco services onto the web3 economy by tokenising mobile data as digital assets,” said Xanne Leo, founder and CEO of Gorilla Networks.

“In 2021, we digitised eSIMS, data plans, and mobile numbers as NFTs, which dramatically transformed how our users purchase, interact and experience mobile services. By joining forces with SoPa’s extensive ecosystem and large user base in Southeast Asia, we are thrilled about the combined marketing capabilities we will now bring collectively to our partners and customers,” added Xanne Leo. 

For our Empowered Women Series last March, we sat down with the women leaders of SoPa – PH Country Manager Abie Pagdanganan and CEO Pamela Aw-Young. 

Pagdanganan shared about the platform’s goals, “So our business on the consumer-facing side, we aim to integrate everything that you need into just one ecosystem. This is where consumers can easily search books or order anything they want or need, through our values interconnected that works.”

Singapore – Society Pass Inc (SoPa), a loyalty and data marketing ecosystem, which is parent company to luxury e-commerce retail brand Leflair in Vietnam, has announced Leflair’s reorganization into a separate entity – Leflair Inc (Leflair Group).

In line with the restructure, SoPa has appointed Loic Gautier as the new group chief executive officer and Ngo Thi Cham as the group’s new chief operating officer of Leflair Group, who will work alongside Loic to drive the firm ahead in its next stage of expansion. Ngo Thi Cham is the current managing director of the Leflair Group and the Vietnam country head of SoPa.

As part of the Leflair Group’s expansion strategy, Loic will oversee the group’s acquisitions, which aim to diversify the company’s product offerings in the lifestyle retail business. He will also oversee the group’s expansion into other Southeast Asian countries.

With this corporate restructure, the Leflair Group is now set to become Southeast Asia’s next lifestyle retail super distributor nexus, evolving from a single discounted platform to providing shoppers with an integrated and unique shopping experience from online to offline. The fields of e-commerce, lifestyle retail, and online advertising are all being targeted by Leflair Group for acquisition.

Since its IPO on the Nasdaq last year, SoPa has focused on M&A activities to expand the ecosystem with other online platforms across 6 verticals: lifestyle, F&B, travel, digital media, and B2B software and loyalty technology in the top three V.I.P countries of Southeast Asia – Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines. Through these business lines, SoPa is able to improve the interconnectedness and support within its ecosystem, fulfilling its mission to connect millions of registered consumers and thousands of registered merchants across Southeast Asia. 

On his appointment Gautier, said, “It’s an honor to receive SoPa’s trust. With this spin-off, Leflair now has a new medium to maximize its full growth potential. By pivoting from a single platform to an integrated lifestyle retail ecosystem, we seek to connect all players within the lifestyle retail value chain, from brand distributors, to offline stores, ecommerce platforms and delivery companies. The new vision makes Leflair a pioneer in redefining the lifestyle and ecommerce retail market across Southeast Asia.”

Meanwhile, Ray Liang, chief financial officer of SoPa Group, shared that after the IPO of SoPa last year, they have been working on a new growth strategy for Leflair in order to maximize its potential to become the destination for lifestyle shopping in Southeast Asia.

“In order to facilitate that growth, we are happy to welcome back Loic Gautier to join our executive team and become the driving force for Leflair Group in the future. At Society Pass, hiring key talents is always among our top priorities as a company and we always welcome Leflair’s old talents to come back and work together to bring Leflair to new heights. Having Loic to come back as the CEO of Leflair Group ensures continuous and sustainable growth for Leflair in the years to come,” Liang said.

Liang added, “The new recruitment also enables us to carry out a bigger plan for Leflair, evolving from a single online platform to become a true ecosystem for lifestyle shopping.”

According to Loic, Leflair Group’s ambitious plans include extensive funding rounds and a roadmap to IPO in the near future.