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Hello reader,
I watched a lot of Power Rangers growing up, and I always loved it when the different rangers combined their individual Zords – humanoid robots – to create the Megazord and take down the evil villain of the series.
It’s an allegory for the power of teamwork and friendship, and it also just looked really cool on TV. Here at Tech in Asia, we often liken mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to Megazords.
After all, M&As are a way for companies to grow stronger and become better versions of themselves, taking their products and services to new heights by combining forces. Today’s premium story features a firm that’s done just that, acquiring another company to grow even more.
Today we look at:
- How an acquisition could unlock significant revenue growth for a customer experience firm
- Mintable’s ex-COO’s new GameFi startup
- Other newsy highlights such as TikTok’s potential ban in the US and Zilingo’s former CEO filing a criminal complaint against her ex-colleagues
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Becoming something better
Image credit: Timmy Loen
Singapore-headquartered cloud communications and customer experience provider Toku is planning to buy AiChat, a conversational AI customer experience platform. The deal, which is set to close in the third quarter, will open new opportunities for Toku to take its services to the next level.
- Synergy: The acquisition will enable Toku to provide a broader range of solutions, which would create “significant opportunities for upselling and cross-selling across our expanded customer base,” says CEO Thomas Laboulle. By acquiring AiChat, Toku can also enhance its existing voice, messaging, and cloud communications suite with a new layer of conversational AI.
- A boost: Toku has an annual revenue of US$31 million as of 2023. The expanded capabilities and synergies achieved through the acquisition is expected to unlock an estimated 50% revenue boost for AiChat within a year after the purchase.
- What’s next: Toku will continue to develop AiChat’s existing road map as a standalone product. It also plans to leverage AiChat’s expertise in channels such as WhatsApp, Google Messages, and Line and hopes to be able to develop a “voice bot to scale human-like customer engagement.”
Read more: Singapore’s Toku to acquire AiChat, eyes revenue surge in first year
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Uncharted waters
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