Hepmil was almost sold after stagnating. Now it’s tapping TikTok to hit record revenues

“We hadn’t raised much money, the revenue was stagnant, and we found ourselves contemplating, ‘Why don’t we just sell [the company] right away?'” Karl Mak, co-founder and CEO of Hepmil Media Group, shares with Tech in Asia.

Although the social media content company was profitable, its revenue hovered at around an average of US$3.5 million for three years prior to 2020, and it wasn’t scaling up.

Hepmil Media co-founders Karl Mak (left) and Adrian Ang/ Photo Credit: Hepmil Media Group

“We had big media companies approaching us with merger and acquisition offers, and to be honest, we were very tempted,” Mak recalls. In fact, the firm was nearly acquired in late 2018, but the deal fell through.

Since then, Hepmil’s revenue has found its footing on the growth track again.

“We went from S$8.1 million (around US$6.1 million) in revenue in 2021 to S$15.2 million (US$11.5 million) combined with our joint venture in 2022,” says Mak. Now the company aims to grow this even further with a goal to reach US$19 million in revenue this year. That would be an over 60% rise from its figures in 2022.

The firm’s current uptick in proceeds is fueled by the popularity of TikTok and is driven by its decision to develop a digital content creator agency, Hepmil Creators’ Network (HCN), which has been a key growth driver for the business.

Founded in 2015 by Mak and Adrian Ang, the Singapore-based firm primarily focuses on producing engaging content for platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels. Hepmil also runs popular social media platforms such as SGAG, MGAG, PGAG, and HCN.

Despite its gains in revenue, the company slipped into the red in 2021 after five profitable years. Last year, its operating loss also grew by over 14% to US$608,000.

This comes as the company has expanded its business across Southeast Asia over the last two and half years, including its US$190,000 acquisition of Meme & Rage Comic Indonesia (MRCI) and its launches in Vietnam and Thailand. The expansion has doubled Hepmil’s headcount to around 200 employees from about 100 in 2021.

That year, employee expenses accounted for 70% of the firm’s total cost of revenue, a number that has gone down to 53% in 2022.

Hepmil Singapore team / Photo credit: Hepmil Media Group

Hepmil’s expansion efforts have been fueled by the US$10 million series A round it raised in November 2021. The round was led by Quest Ventures, Temasek’s Pavilion Capital, and Bent Pixels.

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