‘Thoroughbred over unicorns’: How SGAG parent Hepmil went from seed to sale

[SINGAPORE] South-east Asia’s tech scene received a boost with news of Hepmil Media Group’s acquisition by French media giant Publicis Groupe on Wednesday (Oct 29).

The startup’s early stage investor, Jeffrey Seah, is hopeful that this could mark a turnaround for the industry. “It is my fervent wish that Hepmil’s acquisition will drive away the pall of negativity, and bring positivity and momentum back to the region,” he told The Business Times.

Advertising and public relations company Publicis Groupe said it was acquiring Singapore-based Hepmil, the parent company of home-grown meme page SGAG, for an undisclosed sum.

While the figure is unknown, the group’s latest deal marks one of the most significant startup exits in recent years.

For Hepmil, it is the culmination of a long journey that began in 2012 when it started life as SGAG, a comedic website.

Then-university student Adrian Ang had made a meme on his Facebook page, SGAG, in 2012 about a McDonald’s curry sauce shortage. The meme gave Ang, who is better known online as Xiao Ming, his first taste of virality.

Beyond that, this also showed strong demand for localised memes. That became the initial blueprint for success.

Spinning off popular comedic website 9GAG, SGAG took on a more local perspective for its memes, covering topics such as MRT train breakdowns which Singaporeans could relate to and laugh at.

To manage the growing audience, Ang roped in his junior college friend Karl Mak, and the pair formalised the business in 2013.

But they knew they had to find a way to monetise their memes for the growth to be sustainable.

Drawing inspiration from up-and-coming media firms at that point, such as US’ Buzzfeed, they set their sights on a business-to-business model instead.

The breakthrough

Their breakthrough came in 2015, after they had poked fun at local budget airline Scoot for offering promotions to fly to South Korea amid rising tensions between the country and its northern counterpart through their iconic memes.

This resulted in a commercial partnership between the airline and SGAG to generate brand awareness through novel media approaches.

In the same year, the pair conceptualised Hepmil Media Group, which marked the start of their regionalisation plans.

Hepmil was envisaged as a company to house the respective content arms and to connect efforts across the region, its website said. The name is “limpeh” (a Hokkien term that loosely translates to “your father”) spelt backwards.

Mak and Ang also founded MGAG that year, with a focus on delivering localised content to Malaysian users.

To further support ambitions of regionalisation, Hepmil raised US$968,000 in seed funding in 2017 from a group of 10 angel investors. Their interests were held under an entity named Oobmil (“limboo”, which means “your mother” in Hokkien, in reverse).

One of the investors was media and advertising veteran Jeffrey Seah, who subsequently took on the role of vice-chairman of Hepmil.

Hepmil was a little-known firm at that point, even though its main product, SGAG, was well-established – offering digital content targeting millennials and Gen Z with a unique brand of Singaporean humour.

In the initial investment, Seah was not hoping to land a unicorn. Instead, he preferred to think of his capital as nurturing a thoroughbred.

“Unicorns are imaginary, thoroughbreds win wars,” he said, noting that he wanted the media-tech firm to be grounded with strong foundations.

Seah is a veteran of the media and advertising startup scene and holds stakes in more than 30 startups.

No laughing matter

Under the guidance of Seah, the founders expanded beyond the Singapore market into Indonesia in 2018. But the journey was not smooth sailing.

“We pivoted three to four times in Malaysia and Indonesia… We just could not get it right,” Seah said.

Recounting the initial US$968,000 seed funding for Hepmil back in 2017, Seah shared that the seed investors introduced Hepmil to their own business partners, with each investor promising to “open three doors”.

Hepmil’s rapid expansion was done in a controlled manner, he noted.

Now, the company labels itself as a professional services firm, with the change cemented when it launched the Hepmil Creators’ Network in 2020.

Instead of just making localised content, the company teams up with brands to reach and engage audiences through creators and influencers in this network, which has over 1,000 creators across South-east Asia, according to Hepmil’s website.

To further support regional expansion, Hepmil raised US$10 million in a Series A funding round in 2021, according to data platform Tracxn. High-profile investors included Temasek’s Pavilion Capital.

Rejuvenation of media?

Seah noted that media companies will need to find their niche to succeed.

“No one saw (Hepmil) as a media firm. Everyone saw them as a distribution channel instead,” he said, noting that Hepmil found its niche in providing influencers and content creators to work with partners.

As at 2025, Hepmil has grown to have a presence in six South-east Asian countries – Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand – and nine different subsidiaries, including SGAG, MGAG and PGAG. The company employs more than 300 professionals.