IMJ Partners invests in Android app store Oomph

Brand visual from Oomph

By Shiwen Yap

March 2, 2015

Indonesian Android app store Oomph raised an undisclosed seed funding round from Japanese venture capital (VC) firm IMJ Partners.

Oomph, an Indonesia-based online app store for the Android platform, recently announced that it had closed its seed round of funding, with an undisclosed amount from from the Japan-based IMJ Investment Partners. Designed as a Google Play alternative for Indonesia, Oomph is aimed at the growing number of Android smartphone users in the country.

With mobile apps, games, wallpapers, music and other data hosted on the marketplace, users pay for their downloads via ‘pulsa’, a local term in Indonesia for prepaid mobile credit. This payment option isn’t offered by Google Play in Indonesia and is part of Oomph’s strategy to differentiate itself. Another key differentiator and competitive advantage of Oomph lies in offering localised language and content, especially contrasted with Google Play.

According to a report from Tech in Asia, co-founder and director Stanley Tan stated in Q3 2014 that they had 4.5 million users in Indonesia. But as of Q1 2015, Yasuhiro Seo, general manager for IMJ Investment Partners, claimed a user base of at least six million. It currently competes with app stores in Indonesia including Baidu’s MoboMarket and XL Axiata’s Gudang App.

According to data provided by Tan, from October 2014, daily registered user activity rate was estimated at five per cent, 48 per cent were active monthly and 78 per cent were active quarterly. With a stated acquisition rate of 10,000 new users per day, Tan believes Oomp will reach 10 million users by the end of 2015.

With a plan to increase retention, via an increase in the quality of its content, IMJ plans to leverage on its extensive network and portfolio. One of IMJ’s future plan involves connecting Oomph to various content owners, as well as acquiring foreign content from overseas for dissemination in the Indonesian market.

Related Story: Local issues are startup opportunities: IMJ’s Saito

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW