Favful founder and CEO Sasha Tan
Malaysian integrated digital media group, iMedia, has signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent stake in Lovelife Technologies, owner of community online beauty store Favful.
The financial details remain undisclosed.
This acquisition marks iMedia’s entry into the commerce business and is in line with its mission of becoming an integrated digital media group.
According to a press statement, iMedia will be responsible for the acceleration of Favful’s revenue for its influencer advertising unit as well as branded content. It is also tasked to generate lifestyle content and engagement around its website and social media platforms.
Also Read: Malaysian digital media group REV Asia to acquire iMEDIA for US$9.6M
As part of the deal, all social media assets from Favful will be fully merged into iMedia’s ecosystem.
“The current technology behind Favful’s platform allows it to analyse the sentiments of our users and community’s voices, giving us the opportunity to understand their interest and demand better and will now be extended to the online websites of iMedia to deliver more targeted content that is relevant to our users,” said Voon Tze Khay, CEO and co-founder of iMedia.
Founded by CEO Sasha Tan, Favful’s social commerce platform curates recommendations from its community members based on the customers’ skin type, skin concerns, and lifestyle choices. This is done by combining crowd intelligence from its community preference intelligence generated through machine learning.
“Since our launch in 2016, Favful has grown into a trusted community marketplace. We house over 3,000 beauty and lifestyle influencer members reaching out to potentially 146 million social media audiences. By integrating this reach with ITTIFY (iMedia’s existing influencer agency), our combined social media audience reach is well over 172 million,” said Tan.
iMedia owns and provides digital advertising and marketing, customised content production, and solutions for popular local language sites, premium video streaming networks, and social influencer platforms. Over the past year, the company invested in/acquired half a dozen companies, including OhMedia, Ittify, Goody25, BeautifulNara, and Moretify.
As per a press statement, the iMedia network of owned and managed websites currently reaches over 15 million Malaysians every month.
Also Read: iMedia acquires BeautifulNara to expand its digital media footprint within Malaysia
“Together with the wide-reach audience network and distribution strength of iMedia, we are confident to expand Favful’s community to become a fully integrated digital platform in the media, commerce, and influencer marketing business that will provide our customers and consumers the solutions and experience that matters. One of the key areas of focus is to accelerate Favful’s and all of iMedia’s brands social and live commerce initiatives and expanding beyond the beauty lifestyle segment,” said iMedia’s Tze Khay.
iMedia claims it is looking to complete its IPO on Bursa Malaysia via its own acquisition by Rev Asia, currently listed on Bursa Malaysia for approximately MYR40 million (US$9.81 million). Upon approval by regulators and shareholders, the Favful acquisition will be part of iMedia’s move to Bursa Malaysia.
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Image Credit: iMedia
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