500 Startups-backed Indonesian performance marketing firm eyes $100m valuation

AiSensum, a performance marketing startup, is looking to raise US$1 million in a pre-series A round by Q1 2021. 

Last year, it raised US$621,000 in a seed round from 500 Startups and other angel investors. 

Founded in 2018, AiSensum aims to help new-age entrepreneurs of medium-sized companies use digital marketing to improve their sales.

It does this by providing an AI-based performance marketing platform that allows them to launch “effective” ads to increase sales.

While large corporations have long been using AI and machine learning to streamline their businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still in their early stages of exploring how AI could help them.

In Indonesia, there are more than 60 million SMEs. The Jakarta-based AiSensum targets to provide AI analytics to around 100,000 medium-sized firms.

Currently, most of these companies sell online either on their own websites or on local online marketplaces such as Tokopedia, Shopee, and Lazada.

AiSensum founder and managing partner Vivek Thomas / Photo credit: AiSensum

While they mainly use online platforms to sell and promote their brands, these new entrepreneurs have “limited working knowledge” on how to optimize their revenues via social media ads, said Vivek Thomas, founder and managing partner at AiSensum.

“The heads running these companies are juggling multiple roles, and they are time-poor. They therefore rely on ‘guesswork’ and ‘luck’ for running their digital marketing campaigns.” 

Thomas has 18 years of experience in the marketing field, having previously worked as the regional managing director at boutique market research agency Kadence International.

The Covid-19 boost

The exec said that AiSensum has seen a positive impact amid the pandemic “as many brands have started moving and operating solely online, increasing the need for effective social media advertising.”

Competition among ecommerce entrepreneurs has increased and SME startups have realized that software platforms can help give them a “competitive edge.”

AiSensum claims that it has seen a 5x growth in customer acquisition quarter on quarter, and it is expecting to achieve US$300,000 in annual order booking by the end of the year.

AiSensum gets lucky