AdEasy raises capital for product development

ONLINE marketplace for offline advertisement space AdEasy has raised a fresh round of funds from angel investors to help the startup expand its technology use for campaign planning and analytics.

The company raised over RM850, 000, bringing its total investment amount to over RM1.8mil. The previous funding rounds included a crowdfunding campaign through pitchIN and a seed funding round from Cradle.

“The funding will help us scale our business even faster, and give us a strong financial base on which to expand our platform’s offerings. We will double down on our efforts to improve our features and implement new technologies, which will help our clients leverage the full benefits of offline advertising, ” said AdEasy chief executive officer and co-founder Melissa Sim.

The company was founded in 2017 by Sim and chief operating officer Therine Goh after experiencing inefficiencies in booking offline advertising spaces directly from media owners. They decided to apply a digital solution to offline advertising, making it convenient for small and medium business owners to advertise themselves.

This, says Sim, would allow brands with a small budget to easily purchase advertising space on billboards, magazines and other traditional advertising platforms.

The advent of social media and increasing Internet penetration has also changed the advertising industry. The growth of the digital advertising space has shifted how brands spend their marketing budgets over the last decade.

However, Sim says offline advertising still has an important role to play for brands looking to reach out to their target audience. This is because online advertisements increase in cost over time and consumer trust in traditional formats still remains high.

One of the challenges brands face when exploring offline advertising is the time it takes to do research and gather information. Additionally, the perceived cost involved in securing advertising space and the complicated process of buying space have been major stumbling blocks for brands.

Sim says AdEasy platform solves these problems by providing a list of available advertising space in real-time across various offline media, a comparison of media rates and information, as well as an automated booking process.

In the last few years, AdEasy has built a strong portfolio of clients such as FashionValet, WeWork and Klook.

“AdEasy made our offline advertising experience hassle-free and easy. We saved a lot of time as all the information we needed was on one website, and the entire process of booking a radio campaign is simplified. This is a convenient way for us to try out different media, and further expand our advertising in the offline space, ” said FashionValet senior digital marketer Adhwa Zalil.

Part of the investment will be used to further develop solutions to improve offline advertisement campaigns’ measurement and return on investment. This will allow AdEasy’s users to make better-informed decisions, track campaign progress and gain insights from a traditionally offline medium.

“There is a need for a better solution to make offline advertising more appealing to brands, and quantifiable measurement is crucial. We are always looking to improve our features and provide the best value to our users. These new funds will allow us to put renewed focus on developing crucial technology solutions for both brands and media owners, ” said Goh.