Tokyo-listed AnyMind eyes 16x profit in 2023 as more seek online selling tools

After riding on a wave of ecommerce growth brought about by the pandemic, Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed AnyMind Group is planning to take things a step further: grow its annual operating profit by 16x to 481 million yen (US$3.2 million) in 2023.

Photo credit: AnyMind Group

It’s starting off a small base – the firm recorded its first profitable year in 2022, raking in 30 million yen (US$200,300) in operating profit.

Driving demand for the company’s marketing and ecommerce solutions is a combination of more Japanese businesses selling online, a thriving livestreaming sector in Southeast Asia, and a proliferation of content creators on social media.

AnyMind was founded in Singapore as a martech firm in 2016. It works with over a thousand brands, including the likes of Grab, TikTok, and Traveloka, which use its digital marketing solutions to source influencers and manage marketing campaigns.

Large enterprises like Panasonic also use AnyMind’s online commerce and logistics tools to reach an international audience.

In 2020, the company added ecommerce solutions into the mix as enterprise clients began demanding tools to sell online. “We believe that eventually, brands want to have their own in-house ecommerce capabilities,” CEO Kosuke Sogo tells Tech in Asia.

Today, AnyMind operates in 13 markets, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, and India. As of October 13, the firm has a market capitalization of 40 billion yen (US$269 million), having gone public in March this year.

Higher margins than “traditional” ecommerce enablers

In September, a month after announcing second-quarter results that beat projections, AnyMind revised its original earnings forecast upward, citing increased productivity and “cost optimization.”

With the completion of its acquisition of Indonesia-based ecommerce enabler DDI, AnyMind also said that it plans to achieve 33.3 billion yen (US$222.8 million) in full-year revenue for 2023.

For now, the firm has avoided the fate of competing ecommerce enablers like Thailand-based aCommerce, which had to delay plans for an IPO in 2022 and conduct layoffs earlier this year.

That said, as of October 13, AnyMind’s share price was trading 32% below the offer price of 1,000 yen.

While the firm recorded gross profit margins of 35% in the first six months of 2023, Sogo says its direct-to-consumer business boasts profit margins of “over 50%” because of its tech platform.

That’s higher than what Sogo refers to as “traditional” ecommerce enablers that focus on operations-driven solutions like inventory support and distribution, whose margins can range from 10% to 15%.

Helping content creators and publishers monetize

A livestreaming opportunity

Global ambitions