Singapore’s AnyMind Group acquires Hong Kong-based Acqua Media

Acqua Media founder Ben Chien (left) and AnyMind Group co-founder and CEO Kosuke Sogo

By Quynh Nguyen

August 7, 2018

AnyMind Group, the parent company of Singapore-based AdAsia Holdings, has announced its acquisition of Acqua Media, a Hong Kong-based publisher trading desk, to grow its Asia Pacific presence.

Founded in 2013 by Ben Chien, Acqua Media provides programmatic selling strategy and ad monetization services for premium web publishers and app developers. It claims to work with over 252 publishers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and Australia, generating on average 8.3 billion monthly impressions.

After the acquisition, Chien will join AnyMind Group as General Manager of Hong Kong and Regional Director of Publisher Engagement for AdAsia Holdings in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Australia.

This is the second acquisition for AnyMind Group, after its purchase of FourM in October 2017.

“Similar to the FourM acquisition, Acqua Media provides us with an established market share in the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets, along with Beijing and Sydney. We’re looking to empower the growth of existing Acqua Media clients and future publishers through the AdAsia Digital Platform for Publishers and AdAsia Premium Marketplace – and at the same time, look to drive our growth to monetizing 30B monthly impressions by the end of 2019,” said Kosuke Sogo, CEO and co-founder of AnyMind Group.

AnyMind Group was launched in January as the parent company of three artificial-intelligence driven technology matching platforms: AdAsia Holdings (advertisers and online publishers), TalentMind (recruiters and job seekers) and CastingAsia (marketers and influencers).

AdAsia Holdings claims to power four billion monthly impressions across 560 publishers in Asia through display, native and video advertising.

Also Read:

Exclusive: AdAsia parent firm AnyMind Group plans up to $50m Series B by mid-2018

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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.

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

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  • 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. 
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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.
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