March 1, 2011, Beijing and Hong Kong - Bertelsmann Asia Investments ("BAI") announced today that it led an investment into iClick Interactive Asia Limited ("iClick" and / or "the Company"), a leading online performance marketing provider for Greater China and South East Asia region. Co-investors include SSG Capital Partners and Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia. The new round of funding will be used to support the continuous regional expansion of the company and also R&D in Mainland China. Two research facilities will be set up in Beijing and Shenzhen to fuel the development of iClick's self-invented ad optimization technology.
"BAI is excited about the opportunity and bullish on the future of online performance marketing in the region. We believe iClick will significantly benefit from the strong growth momentum of marketing spend by an increasingly broader range of advertisers including large multinationals and emerging power houses in fast growing sectors like e-commerce." Marked Annabelle Long, Managing Director of Bertelsmann Asia Investments, Chief Executive of Bertelsmann China Corporate Center and Member of the Supervisory Board of BMG Rights Management.
"We are thrilled to work with a strong partner like Bertelsmann, the strategic value of the cooperation goes beyond the capital support for our regional expansion plan, but also allow us to leverage the extensive reach of Bertelsmann around the globe in bringing the Company more high-value customers, partners and talent" Added Sammy Hsieh, Founder and CEO of iClick.
iClick's proprietary ad optimization technology named "XMO" (Cross-Marketplace Optimizer) is built upon various predictive algorithm that takes into accounts a large number of online behaviors and seasonality factors that affect the ad performance. "Advertisers today are looking for multi-platform online marketing solution that can bring measurable results and actionable insights in a highly automated manner. iClick's unique positioning in the ad technology front is capable to provide the data analytics essential for advertiser regardless of industry and scale in determining the return-on-advertising-investment across different ad platforms and ad types." Hsieh remarked.
About Bertelsmann Asia Investments
Established in January, 2008, Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI) is wholly owned by Bertelsmann AG and is headquartered in Beijing, China. The Fund is focused on early-to-growth stage investments with long term vision in the TMT, education and BPO services sectors. As Bertelsmann AG's strategic investment arm in Asia, BAI actively seeks investment and strategic partners in China. For more information about BAI and Bertelsmann Group, please visit www.bertelsmann.com.cn