Dentsu Aegis Network, an international media group has forged a partnership with East Ventures to acquire the early stage venture firm’s interest stake in Jakarta-based digital marketing firm Valuklik.
The sum of transaction was not disclosed but this marks East Ventures’ third exit this year, following the firm’s exit of Kudo to Grab and Loket to Go-Jek. Meanwhile, John Marco Rasjid another shareholder in Valuklik has also divested his shares in the same round.
Post-acquisition, Valuklik will merge with iProspect and rebranded as iProspect Valuklik to add significant scale to the network’s capabilities and to be established as the market leader in performance in the high growth market.
Valuklik founders Cleosent Randing and Rahul Nambiar will be given the roles of chairman and CEO of iProspect Valuklik respectively.
According to Joanna Catalano, the CEO of iProspect Asia Pacific, “the acquisition of Valuklik will enable iPorspect to deliver truly transformative business outcomes for brands in one of the most disruptive markets in Southeast Asia.”
At the same time, the company’s subsidiary Pinnacle – a specialized unit for analytics and one of the largest Google Analytics Sales & solutions partner in Indonesia will also be rebranded as iProspect Pinnacle.
Established in 2012, Valuklik focuses on delivering data-driven performance marketing solution, large-scale enterprise level SEO, digital transformation, as well as data and analytics. The company has more than 55 professionals and delivers digital marketing services across all digital media channels including – search, social media, programmatic media, and performance content.
Valuklik is also one of the largest performance marketing companies in Indonesia and currently serves clients in various sectors including telecom, travel, media, e-commerce, and insurance.
“Valuklik brings with it strong capabilities in performance marketing and search, as well as the needed scale that is paramount to accelerating our business,” said Dick van Motman, the CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Southeast Asia.
“The acquisition of Valuklik ticks all these boxes and is a natural progression after the acquisition of Dwi Sapta, furthering our digital performance offering and management bench through the talented team there,” he added.
The deal follows a recent acquisition spree by Dentsu Aegis Network in Asia, whereby the group also bought Indonesian media agency Dwi Sapta Group, India’s largest independent digital agency SVG Media, Singaporean content marketing agency Novus, and Malaysian Merdeka LHS in the last two years.
This new acquisition is reportedly subject to regulatory approvals and is anticipated to close by February 2018.
