Singapore-based marketing, human resources and entertainment technology provider AnyMind Group attracted $26.4m in funding yesterday from investors including Japan Post Capital, the corporate venturing arm of postal service Japan Post.
Mirai Creation Fund, a venture capital fund backed by carmaker Toyota and financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, also participated in the round, as did undisclosed existing investors.
Founded in 2016 as AdAsia, AnyMind provides marketing and human resources software in addition to a number of entertainment-oriented marketing and influencer offerings tailored to markets in East and Southeast Asia.
The company’s portfolio includes social media influencer networks Moindy and Grove, which operate in Thailand and Japan respectively, and a portal called Casting Asia where 140,000 influencers can be tracked according to quantitative metrics.
AnyMind also has direct-to-consumer (D2C) marketing partnerships in place with PR agency Sunny Side Up and fitness apparel brand Lyft (which is unrelated to the ride hailing service). The funding will support its D2C strategy as it looks to expand in markets including India, Japan and the Middle East.
The Japanese campaign will include digital outdoor advertising that extracts audience data on behalf of clients, drawing on expertise AnyMind has gained in the segment under a Thailand-based partnership with offline-to-online services provider VGI Global Media.
The company has now raised $62.3m altogether, it said. It most recently secured an undisclosed amount from footballer Keisuke Honda’s KSK Fund in July 2019. It closed a $21.4m series B round four months earlier after raising $8m from VGI Global Media and financial services firm Tokyo Century.
Messaging app provider Line and co-led the $13.4m first close of the round in late 2018 with Mirai Creation Fund at a reported $200m valuation, investing alongside venture capital firm Jafco and startup builder Dream Incubator.
AnyMind closed its series A round at $14.5m in September 2017 with a $2.5m investment from curated news app developer Gunosy and angel investor Hisanori Watanabe, after Jafco had supplied the first $12m five months previously.