Influencer marketing firm Partipost bags US$5m additional funding, plans Vietnam entry

Crowd influencer marketing and commerce platform Partipost has received extended funding on their series A, with a total investment of US$5 million. The funds will be used to accelerate product and market expansions as the COVID-19 business climate propels the growth of Partipost’s commercial clientele. It will also help further develop Partipost’s tech platform and accelerate business expansion into Vietnam, as well as strengthen current operations in Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, and its recent expansion into Malaysia and the Philippines earlier this year. 

The recent extended and oversubscribed round is led by Quest Ventures with participation by existing investor SPH Ventures, and new investors iGlobe Partners and XA Network. Earlier this year, the company also secured an investment of US$3.5 million in a Series A round funding to expand its business into Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. According to the company, this latest investment reflects the increased mainstream market acceptance and outstanding growth potential of the influencer marketing industry, which is expected to be worth US$13.8 billion in 2021, said Partipost, citing a report by Influencer Marketing Hub.

Partipost aims to drive 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 behaviours, The company explained that its 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 said that it rewards influencers for both their media reach and message impact in their curated social media content message, determined by their followers’ responses.

Partipost’s current client portfolio includes Pepsi, Dettol, The Body Shop, and brands under Unilever such as St. Ives and Simple Skincare. Partipost also added that it saw a threefold increase year-on-year in the total number of influencers during the pandemic. The company also recently rolled out two new initiatives - the nano ambassador and mass campaign programmes. It added that the programmes are better catered to brands focused on achieving brand awareness, sales, and scale. Through these programmes, Partipost aims to run over 10,000 campaigns with over 3,000,000 influencers within the next 18 to 24 months.

With the legal completion of this fundraising round, partner of Quest Ventures Jeffrey Seah will join Partipost’s board as director. He was previously board observer from Quest Ventures’ earlier investment in Partipost in July last year.

“Since our initial investment, Partipost has demonstrated its business acumen and operating verve across the three markets it originally operates in. Partipost has balanced the need to recruit brand-safe nano influencers that resonate with commercial partners, and simultaneously pitch to and onboard business partners looking for authentic direct-to-customer relationships as social commerce notches increasing contribution to sales. We look forward to the leaders expanding their formula to new markets and filling up the management bench strength for further growth,” said Seah.

Jonathan Eg (pictured left), founder and CEO of Partipost, said: “This extended fundraising round will enable Partipost to continue to improve our technology, execute our expansion plans, and double down on our existing markets. Partipost hopes to be a platform that millions of brands will use and allow everyone to be an influencer in their own authentic way.”

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