Oct 6, 2016

Philippines: Xurpas buys Singapore-based Art of Click, Wavemaker Partners exits Subscribe to our newsletter Tomas S. Noda III October 6, 2016: &nbsp Philippine-based consumer tech company Xurpas Inc has bought for $45 million the Art of Click Pte Ltd (AOC) , a mobile advertising firm in Singapore, in a bid to grow its mobile consumer services by increasing its content offering. Wavemaker Partners, an early stage technology venture capital firm in Southeast Asia (SEA) exited as an institutional investor from Art of Click, Wavemaker, through the Singapore National Research Foundation’s (NRF) Technology Incubation Scheme (TIS), is the only institutional investor in the company. The deal is initially valued at $30 million with additional performance-based earn-outs to take it up to $45 million. This is Wavemaker’s third exit from its Labs fund which includes Luxola (acquired by LVMH) and Gushcloud (acquired by YelloMobile). What makes the deal special is that it is a dragon- a fund returner, which is a rarity in the region. The Labs portfolio also includes start-ups that have raised significant follow-on investment like Tradegecko, ShopYourWorld, Smove and Structo A creator of proprietary next generation ad optimization platform for advertisers, AOC allows the optimal matching of advertisers and mobile publishers. It enables mobile advertisers determine the effectiveness of their advertisements. This may involve optimization of the entire media buying, ad placement and fulfillment process. AoC is now the third company acquired by Xurpas this year, and the 11th one since it listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange in December 2014. Also Read: Philippines: Xurpas buys out Fluxion, consolidating games app firm Xurpas chairman and CEO Nix Nolledo expects the latest acquisition will boost their revenues and profits and further accelerate the development and expansion of Xurpas’ existing consumer business. “We are thrilled to find innovative companie exceedingly complementary with our business. We believe that Art of Click is a perfect match for our mobile consumer services, and that growth prospect excites us,” Nolledo said. Incorporated in June 2011, AOC caters to about 100 clients across 13 countries, supporting both client brands and global and regional communication agencies in the development and execution of mobile strategies in markets like South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe. Also Read: Xurpas creates first PH celebrity games firm Xeleb Xurpas president and COO Raymond Racaza called AOC’s acquisition as timely, since Xurpas is developing revolutionary mobile consumer platforms that integrates their various investments. “Our main growth driver is largely mobile consumer services. Since our IPO, we have strategically invested in companies that will boost our content offering for the mobile subscriber. We love the fact that Art of Click has the capability to tremendously enhance this core business unit,” Racaza said. Xurpas’s last trading price increased 1.00 per cent or P0.140 to close at P14.08. Also Read: