Yahoo Finance
Advertising giant Publicis Groupe SA agreed to buy Singapore’s Hepmil Media Group to bolster its social-media expertise in Southeast Asia’s rapidly growing online market.
“Hepmil’s origins as the creators of some of Southeast Asia’s most loved consumer content have helped redefine how brands can show up natively, authentically, and with real-time cultural relevance,” Amrita Randhawa, head of Publicis Singapore and Southeast Asia, said in the statement.
A takeover would also be a milestone for Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem, which has been suffering from a dearth of exit opportunities as companies and investors have shied away from emerging markets.
Hepmil traces its roots to a meme page started in 2012 by university friends Karl Mak and Adrian Ang, who were fascinated by the explosive rise of entertainment sites such as 9gag in other regions. The pair started creating content in the back of their lecture halls for a local audience and their viral stick-figure memes ultimately attracted the attention of bigger advertisers like Singapore Airlines Ltd’s low-cost carrier Scoot.
Today, Hepmil operates in several countries across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and the Philippines. The founders own a majority stake in the company, and have raised about US$10 million from investors including Quest Ventures and Temasek Holding Pte Ltd’s Pavilion Capital.
