Kiat Lim acquires majority share in Vulcan Post parent firm GRVTY Media

 Towerhill, the investment vehicle of Kiat Lim, who is the son of billionaire Peter Lim, has acquired a majority stake of the company for an undisclosed amount. Part of the deal is a cash injection, which will be used to fuel the company’s growth in its media business, agency business and growth hacking.

Founded in April 2017, GRVTY Media is a creative agency and digital media group that houses Vulcan Post, VP Label, Millennials of Singapore, and The Daily Ketchup. GRVTY Media also has a regional office in Malaysia which houses Vulcan Post Malaysia and Discover KL.

According to the company, it was last valued at SG$3.6 million in July 2017 — just three months after its inception — in which it raised SG$1 million from Spout Entertainment Group (its shares were later transferred to REAPRA).

According to an article on the Vulcan Post, Jacky Yap, co-founder of GRVTY Media, said that Lim sought GRVTY’s support in the various businesses he is involved in such as Thomson Medical Group, NFT community ARC, and digital football platform zujuGP. Over time, this led to the conversation around a possible acquisition.

Johnathan Chua, co-founder of GRVTY, also added that there have been numerous acquisition offers in the past but the one with Lim felt more “genuine” due to the on-going relationship. He added that past acquisitions were often without “strategic benefits for GRVTY” or “lowball offers”.

However, with the current deal on the table, it opened up the possibility of better care of employees through hires and salary raises, said Chua.

The article also said that while Lim will now own a majority stake, both the founders are still “very much in control of the company” and operations are to remain status quo. Chua added that with the funding, the company is also looking to double its headcount.

Meanwhile, last year, Vulcan Post also launched its own eCommerce marketplace called VP Label which brings together local products for shoppers and readers of Vulcan Post. The new eCommerce arm was then touted as “a natural evolution” for Vulcan Post, which actively covers the stories of entrepreneurs and businesses in Singapore.

The eCommerce arm was created to complete the whole Vulcan Post reader experience as the team found an increasing number of readers searching up on brands they had read about for the full product portfolio.

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