Adtech company Adskom raises undisclosed Series A

• To fund expansion of services to new platforms, entry into Malaysia and Thailand
• Company’s inhouse-developed tech covers DMP, SSP and trading desks

PROGRAMMATIC advertising company Adskom said it has raised Series A funding of an undisclosed amount, led by Japan’s supply side platform (SSP) and advertising network Geniee.
 
The two other firms participating in the round were Convergence Ventures from Indonesia, and existing investor East Ventures from Singapore, Adskom said in a statement.
 
With the newly acquired capital, it is looking to aggressively grow its revenue by 300% to 500%, Adskom said without disclosing actual figures.
 
It intends to expand its programmatic ad services to mobile and video platforms, and to enter the markets in Malaysia and Thailand, it added. It already operates in Indonesia, Singapore and the United States.
 
Cofounder and chief executive officer Italo Gani said that Adskom had already been working closely with Geniee prior to the investment.
 
“There’s been a lot of cooperation between the two companies and we share a common goal of using the most cutting-edge ad technologies to help maximise our customers’ revenue,” he said.
 
The Series A funding marks Geniee’s first-ever investment in South-East Asia, according to executive director Akifusa Kanda.
 
“With this investment, we will continue to work together with Adskom through knowledge sharing and an increase of direct business transactions,” he said.
 
According to Adskom, analysts estimate the total digital ad spend in South-East Asia was US$915 million in 2014, excluding the Philippines.
 
In Indonesia alone, companies are expected to spend more than US$800 million on digital advertising in 2015, up 80% from last year’s US$460 million, according to a recent study by eMarketer.
 
Of that amount, US$130 million will go toward ads for mobile devices, a staggering increase of more than 200% from the US$40 million last year.
 
Growth will continue steadily through 2019, when the total ad market in Indonesia (including ads appearing on traditional media) is predicted to jump to US$19.58 billion. Spending on digital and mobile ads will likely contribute around US$7.6 billion by then, Adskom said.
 
“Adskom is one of those rare companies that thinks and positions itself globally, while building a team and executing locally,” said East Ventures managing partner Willson Cuaca, adding that advertising technology is a complex space, one which not every startup team can tackle.
 
Launched in April 2013, Adskom raised US$850,000 seed funding in August 2014, in a round led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage, Jakarta-based Beenos Plaza and Skystar Capital, and East Ventures.
 
Earlier, in 2013, it had received initial seed funding from Japanese venture capital firm Rebright Partners.
 
Adtech basics
 
The adtech business includes technologies such as Data Management Platform (DMP), Supply Side Platform (SSP), and Agency Trading Desk.
 
DMP refers to a software system that aggregates, sorts, and saves information. From there, the software displays it in a way for publishers and businesses to make decisions about where to put ads.
 
An SSP is a tech solution for easily automating the ad sales process.
 
An Agency Trading Desk is a real-time bidding and ad exchange. It’s a service dedicated to helping companies actually purchase online ads, and it helps digital advertisers make the most of their budgets.
 
“We believe that Adskom is the leader in the adtech space in Indonesia, and it is the only company we see that has superior technology in terms of integrating DMP and SSP products,” said Convergence Ventures managing partner Adrian Li.
 
Solid data management and deep technology platforms are keys to the success of online advertising, Adskom said.
 
Which is why it built its own DMP product called Vasa, the first company in Indonesia to do so, it claimed.
 
With Vasa, marketers, publishers, and businesses in general can optimise their spending by targeting specific users with the right ads, at the right time, and in the right places, the company said.
 
Additionally, Adskom said it provides a complete solution for digital ad campaigns in South-East Asia via its SSP product called Axon, as well as its Agency Trading Desk product called Actio.
 
“We strive to strengthening our lead in Southeast Asia’s programmatic advertising space by managing audience data with multiple data partners,” said cofounder and chief technology officer Daniel Armanto.
 
“Adskom is a data-driven advertising platform that leverages the data collected from our local partners, and that’s our unique selling proposition.
 
“We are capable of collecting and processing local consumer behaviour data – which creates a regionally competitive advantage. We are also the only local player with the tech and the team to support a big data operation,” he claimed.
 
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