AdAsia gets an extra $2.5m to take its AI tools beyond adtech

AdAsia co-founder and CEO Kosuke Sogo. Photo credit: AdAsia.

Singapore-based adtech startup AdAsia has completed its series A funding round, hauling in an extra US$2.5 million to add to the US$12 million it raised back in April.

The “series A-plus” money comes from angel investor Hisanori Watanabe – founder of WebCrew – and Japanese news app Gunosy. Along with the first tranche of funds from Singaporean VC firm JAFCO, AdAsia’s total series A raise now stands at US$14.5 million.

In addition to capital, Gunosy will give AdAsia exclusive advertising slots within its mobile apps, that the startup can then offer to its clients. AdAsia will also be able to use Gunosy’s own advertising technology in Southeast Asian markets.

An AdAsia spokesperson told Tech in Asia that the new funding will be used to scale the startup’s artificial intelligence-driven matching technology, which it uses to link advertisers with publishers and brand owners with social media influencers. AdAsia now wants to explore uses for the technology in fields outside of advertising and marketing. Human resources will be the first port of call, with the technology being applied to job recruitment, matching employers with prospective employees.

Since securing its initial series A funding in April 2017, AdAsia has expanded to new markets including Japan, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Counting its offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City, the company now operates from 10 bases across nine countries.

The company has grown from 90 staff in April to over 170 people today. Additionally, its average revenue growth rate quarter-on-quarter since January is 30 percent.

According to Tech in Asia data, the US$12 million that AdAsia raised in April was the largest disclosed series A investment for an Asian adtech startup outside of China.