Singaporean adtech startup lands $12m series A round to focus on AI

The team. Photo credit: AdAsia.

AdAsia Holdings has lassoed in US$12 million in series A funding from JAFCO Asia, the adtech company announced today.

According to the Tech in Asia database, the Singapore-headquartered startup’s round is the largest disclosed series A round for an Asian adtech company, China-headquartered businesses excluded. It’s also the largest series A round for a Southeast Asian adtech company. Shanghai-based Avazu Inc. raised US$48 million series A money in March 2014.

Tech-focused venture capital firm JAFCO Asia, also based in Singapore, led the round. The funding marks the VC’s largest single investment made in a company.

AdAsia brings together marketing, advertising, and publishing under one roof through its products AdAsia Digital Platform and AdAsia Ad Network.

AdAsia will put the investment toward expansion into China, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, and Malaysia this year. It also seeks to grow its current team of 85 to 400 by the end of 2018 and establish a product development center in Vietnam, while speeding up the integration of AI and machine learning into present and future products.

“AI and machine learning will provide an added layer on top of our current product lineup that includes the AdAsia Digital Platform and CastingAsia,” co-founder and CEO Kosuke Sogo said in a statement. “It will also be a big part of future innovations, addressing the needs of modern marketers, advertisers, and publishers.” For example, the new software will be able to make automatic recommendations for a brand based on data fed into the system.

AdAsia currently has seven offices in six countries: Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Taipei, and Phnom Penh.

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New year, new rules

When Tech in Asia last spoke with AdAsia, Kosuke said the company wasn’t looking for funding.

“We are profitable,” Kosuke tells Tech in Asia. He claims the company has generated over US$12.9 million over the past financial year. The team’s aiming to hit US$28 million in profits this year and US$80 million in 2018.

AdAsia already has boots on the ground in Shanghai and plans to officially begin business there in the second week of April.

A veteran to localizing ad agencies, Kosuke and COO Otohiko Kozutsumi founded the company in April last year. The startup’s products launched the following month.