Malaysian private equity firm Bintang Capital Partners, through its BCP Asia Fund I, has invested in marketing technology company Involve Asia, according to a statement.
Founded in 2014, Involve Asia is headquartered in Malaysia and has operations across Southeast Asia.
The company has been backed by venture capital firms such as 500 Global, OSK Technology Ventures, and Cradle Seed Ventures.
Prior to the Bintang Capital’s investment, Involve Asia raised over $3.6 million, including a $2.22-million Series B round in 2018, according to data firm Tracxn.
Involve Asia connects businesses to content creators, influencers, developers, and affiliate partners to manage and track engagement and activity. The platform gives digital citizens across the region greater control over their individual digital profiles with opportunities to self-monetise, Bintang said.
The new investee company is also working on developing a platform to cater to small- and medium-sized businesses.
Involve Asia claims it has worked with hundreds of brands in the e-commerce, travel, and finance sectors, as well as hundreds of thousands of content creators, developers, and affiliates, together driving over $1 billion in transactions.
“The demographics in support of this investment are truly staggering: for example, by the end of 2022, smartphone penetration in Southeast Asia is estimated to be in excess of 97%, while the total digital consumer market in Southeast Asia is expected to grow to 402 million people within five years,” Bintang said.
The PE firm added that Involve Asia has demonstrated “superior financial performance”, which is expected to deliver strong equity returns for its investment.
Two months ago, Bintang also completed a follow-on investment in Muslim lifestyle app developer Bitsmedia, to support the latter’s launch of Muslim streaming services Qalbox.
Bingtang closed its 300 million ringgit first fund in early 2022. The fund raised its capital from the Malaysian government’s matching fund-of-funds programme Penjana Nasional Fund.
Its first investment was into elderly care solutions provider Care Concierge, while Bintang had been investing on a deal-by-deal basis.
Other portfolio companies include niche e-commerce firm Watchbox, security and surveillance solutions provider OneBerry and iHandal Energy Solutions.
Bintang’s founder and CEO Johan Rozali-Wathooth told DealStreetAsia earlier that BCP Asia Fund I was expected to be fully deployed by the end of this year, even as the deployment deadline was set for May 2024.
The firm is also planning to launch a bigger, second fund.
Bintang has recently become the first Malaysian organisation to be a signatory to the Operating Principles for Impact Management. It earlier adopted United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investment.
