Affiliate marketing platform, Involve, marks another milestone with a raise of over US$10 million led by Bintang Capital Partners Berhad (“Bintang”) the private equity arm of Affin Hwang Asset Management Berhad with a parentage that includes leading global investment managers such as CVC Capital Partners and Nikko Asset Management. They are joined by returning globally renowned investors, 500 Global, Orbit Capital Malaysia, and Monumental Productions.
Involve is also backed by global venture capital firms such as Accord Ventures, OSK Technology Ventures, and Cradle Seed Ventures. Its fundraise highlights the market’s confidence in Involve’s solid fundamentals as it maintained profitability while doubling business growth year-on-year.
“We’ve been growing revenue at 132% CAGR since inception while staying profitable. Despite the recent economic headwinds facing global markets and the tech sector in particular, there is still room for growth in digital advertising across APAC, especially with our performance-led approach,” said Jimmy How, CEO and Co-founder of Involve. “With the new funding and our strong fundamentals, we aim to expand our product lines and extend our services to new businesses and partners across the region,” he added.
As part of Involve’s plans to scale even more rapidly, part of its fundraise will be used to invest in companies that complement its business and leverage its network of clients and partners. In recent years, Involve has established a firm footing with influencers across the region which has driven strong results for advertisers.
The company plans to deploy a comprehensive suite of solutions that will increase the avenues for advertisers to leverage on influencers and their highly engaged audience.
“2022 marked Involve’s second chapter of aggressive growth. We’re not sitting around waiting for the global uncertainty to settle. We are in a position to invest and step on the gas while many are focused on consolidation and preserving cash. A number of industry-changing products are ready to be taken out of beta and will hit the market very soon,” said Rene E. Menezes, President and Co-founder of Involve.
“Digital advertising spending in Southeast Asia is expected to grow by 11.3% to US$4.1 billion in 2022, up from US$3.68 billion and at a pace of 12 to 16 percent over the next two years. Additionally, companies are increasingly focused on achieving maximum return on investment. It was reported that Southeast Asia accounted for one of the highest digital ad spend wastage alone in the first quarter of 2022, amounting to $1 billion. There is always a need for high impact, brand advertising but even more opportunity exists for marketers who adopt Involve’s platform with its focus on risk-free, highly effective returns on marketing budgets,” added Menezes.
Involve is also expanding the team in line with its aggressive growth plans and hiring across many roles, with almost 50 positions open especially in business development, project management, product and DevOps.
Since May 2022, Involve has made a number of senior hires including digital marketing veteran Rene E. Menezes who was appointed President of Involve Asia to spearhead the commercial growth of the organisation.
The Company also recently brought in Melissa Chan, a veteran marketer to lead the entire brand and marketing efforts of the Company.
Johan Rozali-Wathooth, Founder of Bintang Capital Partners mentions, “Bintang is excited to be investing in Involve, we believe the Company is well-positioned within Southeast Asia’s fast-growing transforming affiliate marketing and making retail media available and accessible by the public.” He adds, “We are delighted to back an outstanding team that drives positive social impact by providing opportunities for individuals and small-to-medium-sized marketing companies to harness their networks by partnering with global brands. This can create new job opportunities and provide economic uplift for individuals in the process.”
With an established presence in Southeast Asia, the Malaysia-headquartered company oversees over one million partnerships with over 580,000 website partners, influencers, and affiliates in the region. Over US$1.5 billion in sales have been generated with the partnership of our Partners and Advertisers since its inception.
This includes multinationals such as Lazada, Shopee, Grab, Marriott, Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, Nike, Citibank and over 500 customers across E-commerce, Travel, Finance and Services sectors.