SINGAPORE — Partipost, Asia’s fastest-growing crowd influencer marketing and commerce platform, has announced that it has secured an investment of over USD $7 million. The oversubscribed round was led by global venture capital fund manager iGlobe Partners, with participation from Temasek’s Pavilion Capital, Taiwan Mobile, Cathay Venture, and Quest Ventures. With this fundraising round completed, iGlobe Partners’ partner Joyce Ng will be joining Partipost’s board as a director. The fresh funds will be used to accelerate the development of Partipost’s new product suite to support the increased business needs of its multi-market commercial clientele as mask mandates retire across the Asian markets. Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong will join as Partipost’s 6th, 7th, and 8th operational footprint in the next 18 months.
This geographic range of investors in this round reflects the accelerating growth in the influencer marketing industry in Asia, which is poised to hit $24 billion by 2024, according to a report by Statista. As well, the 2022 Southeast Asia influencer marketing report commissioned by Partipost identified On-Demand & Always-On capabilities as twin forces driving brand marketers to currently invest up to a third (33%) of their marketing budget in influencer marketing. Early mover brands in the influencer marketing space are now reaping long-term dividends by building their social media presence through influencers. The efficacy of influencer marketing goes beyond raising generic brand awareness. More importantly, they drive 24/7 sales conversions unencumbered by the limitations of traditional retail hours. Brand marketers and affiliate sales organizations are expected to allocate more budget to partner influencers.
Partipost is Asia’s fastest-growing crowd influencer marketing and commerce platform. It drives authentic word-of-mouth marketing by matching brands to influencers with the highest brand affinity. With data insights collected through its in-app polls and user behaviors, Partipost’s data-centric framework crowdsources influencers with follower sizes ranging from a few hundred to millions of followers. Driven by consumers’ growing need for trust in influencer marketing and commerce, Partipost rewards influencers for both their media reach and message impact in their curated social media content message, determined by their followers’ responses.
Consumers are turning towards social media to not only research products and/or services but also to discover them. Based on the report findings, 87% of the respondents spent at least two hours on social media daily, with 46% of them spending more than an astounding five hours a day scrolling through their social media platforms. 30% of respondents also responded that they favored the review type of content. As the tech-savvy generation gains purchasing power, it is inevitable that brands must leverage influencer marketing to reach their future customers.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, brands were driving top-of-mind awareness aggressively and as the endemic phase is upon us, brands are ready to drive end-funnel conversions: sales. The survey done by Partipost showed that nano influencers have the highest impact on consumers in regards to buying decisions at 46% as nano influencers, usually come from the consumer’s circle of family and friends — an everyday person, as compared to celebrities (20.6%), macro-influencers (17.7%), and micro-influencers (15.7%). Partipost has always been dedicated to helping businesses achieve their objectives, and as a result, has been able to maintain existing clients while onboarding new clients. This includes DFI Retail Group, Reckitt Benckiser, Jinro, and COTY.
Joyce Ng, Partner at iGlobe, said, “With the ever-increasing social media penetration rate in Asia today, we believe that the creator economy will be here to stay. Brands need to explore different marketing tools to break through the content clutter in this ultra-connected digital age. Partipost has disrupted the traditional idea of marketing by creating a robust crowd influencer ecosystem and efficient workflow for influencers and brands. As the lead investor for this financing round, we are impressed with Jonathan and his team and are excited to journey with them to take them to the next level.”
Jeffrey Seah, Partner at Quest Ventures Asia Fund, added, ”This is our third cheque in support of Partipost. In addition to garnering an increased share of the advertising and marketing budget pies, Partipost has increasingly been retained by marketing clients to develop product sampling & research campaigns in traditional trade distribution channels. Alongside the shift in mindsets and habits of end customers, brand marketers are now looking for captive funnels to capture a covid generation of WFH consumers inundated with choices. Influencers and creators on Partipost’s platform, as a result, have seen their talent value validated commercially by the market. Tony, Ben, and Jon are the genre of Digital Economy operators we will continue to support.”
This year, Partipost continues to cater to brands focused on achieving brand awareness, sales, and scale, having run a single campaign that activated over 3,000 influencers.
Jonathan Eg, Founder and CEO of Partipost, said, “Despite the macroeconomic challenges, we have been able to complete this fundraising round. A lot of the credit has to go not only to our investors but also our team members across the region for their dedication, perseverance, and belief in the future of Partipost. We want to be a platform for all brands to use and all influencers to use, and we are definitely getting closer to that vision.”
