What a journey it has been so far!
On this day back in 2016, the company started as a two-founder team in Singapore, which is now over 1,000 people today with an in-market presence across 13 markets across Southeast Asia, East Asia, India and the Middle East.
Exactly one year ago, Kosuke Sogo, CEO and co-founder of AnyMind Group penned a blog post outlining the company’s history from 2016 to 2021, how the company navigated the first year of COVID-19, and a brief overview of our products then.
This year, we’re looking to do something slightly different – we’re unpacking where the company is at today, having gone through six years of evolution and growth.
Where we’re at today
What does AnyMind Group do?
Over the years, the company has continued to launch new products and offerings, and today, AnyMind Group operates as an end-to-end commerce enablement company.
Our offerings are broadly segmented into two areas: Brand Commerce and Partner Growth.
In Brand Commerce, businesses can tap on a range of tools for manufacturing, e-commerce, marketing and logistics.
The Partner Growth area spans offerings for web & app publishers and influencers & creators, which includes tools that support monetization and analytics. Customers for Partner Growth can also tap on tools in Brand Commerce.
Both these areas are propped up with operations teams across the company’s operating markets that enable customers to maximize the value gained from our products.
The below visualization outlines how our platforms are positioned today:
We want to make it exciting for everyone to do business Business is exciting.
We believe that any passion, any dream, and any idea can create new value in this world, and that’s why we’re providing technology to empower everyone for greater possibilities and freedom to create new products and services.
Ultimately, we exist to make it exciting for everyone to do business.
That’s why we have also formed our mission to “Make Every Business Borderless” – not just geographical borders, but borders around businesses and customers, online and offline, countries and regions, industries and functions, and so much more. Without these borders, business would be even more exciting for all.
Acquisitions and investments We’ve been acquisitive since 2017, with our first being Japan-based FourM, followed by Hong Kong-based Acqua Media in 2018. Both are publisher trading desks – working with online publishers to maximize monetization.
In 2019, we acquired Moindy, a Thailand-based influencer network, which also marked our move into the content creator space. In this same vein, GROVE, a Japan-based influencer network, joined AnyMind Group in early 2020.
March 2020 saw the acquisition of POKKT, an India-based mobile advertising platform, and investment in Japan-based D2C brand LÝFT. In 2021, we acquired Japan-based cross-border marketing firm ENGAWA.
Talking business At the end of the most recent full year (as of 31 December 2021), we had over 1,000 staff from 27 nationalities around the world, situated out of our 17 offices across 13 markets. From our first full financial year (2017) to 2021, the company saw a CAGR of 62%, with revenue for 2021 standing at US$174 million (converted from ¥19.2 billion).
Today, we’re powering over 1,000 businesses, 1,200 web and app publishers, and 1,400 creators.
On 22 February 2022, AnyMind Group was approved for a public listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers board, but on 11 March 2022, the company decided to postpone the IPO to a later date due to the situation in Ukraine, stock market trends, and other various circumstances.
Looking at the near future As a company, we are more determined and optimistic than ever to continue our growth in the short-, mid-, and long-term.
For the past two years, Asia and the world have battled with a prolonged pandemic that has accelerated several trends that have been touted to stick, particularly around digitalization and online commerce. As markets and regions start to open up again, we will see even more potential fulfilled to have even more exciting commerce, and today we are positioned in exactly the right place to help our customers across businesses, publishers, and influencers to grow.
We’re just at the beginning
Although the company has come a long way since April 2016, we feel like we’re just at the start of a highly unique and exciting journey. The year ahead will be a monumental one as we look to further establish ourselves in the commerce enablement space for Asia and beyond. Stay tuned!
