Carousell joins the race for ad dollars

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Hello readers,

To put it mildly, Carousell is on a roll. The Singapore-based classifieds giant now has a sprawling business spread out across different entities, including sneaker marketplace Ox Street, online automotive platform OneShift, and Ox Luxe, a marketplace for pre-owned luxury goods.

This January, Carousell launched Connect, a platform created to help brands “close the loop” between ad spend and performance, becoming a modern-day retail media network. Considering these networks are expected to become a US$100 billion opportunity by 2024, it’s no surprise that others like Amazon and Walmart have also placed their bets on ad dollars.

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Today we look at:

• Will Carousell’s ad platform give Google and Facebook a run for their money?
• The founder of Indian edtech firm Byju’s raises his stakes in the company
• Other newsy highlights such as Grab executives extend plan to lock up shares till 2023, GoTo set to raise over US$1.2 billion in IPO.

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Premium summary

Bringing the wall down

Google, Facebook, and Amazon, which lead the digital ad market, have a “walled garden” approach toward advertising, which, simply put, means they operate in a closed ecosystem that limits the data shared with marketers. With Connect, Carousell aims to present an alternative for advertisers.

• All about the timing: Analysts from McKinsey & Co. predict that more than 50% of advertisers plan to increase their ad spend over the next year, a trend that should reflect strongly in Southeast Asia as well. At the same time, brands are looking at ways to get their products and services to niche audiences.

• Paying with attention: Compared to the West, there’s a significant opportunity for open internet advertising in Southeast Asia since most streaming platforms in the region are ad-driven. Users in the Philippines, for instance, would “much rather have a platform that’s free, and pay for the platform with their attention,” Carousell tells Tech in Asia.

• Offer valid even when stocks don’t last: Carousell says the company isn’t confined by the ad inventory on its own platform because of its ability to access the “open internet.”

Read more: Can Carousell crack Google-Facebook duopoly with big ad bet?

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A significant quarter for the first family

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