Influencer marketing platform Partipost gets US$5m in extended Series A round

PARTIPOST, a crowd influencer marketing and commerce platform, has secured an extended Series A funding round of US$5 million led by Quest Ventures. Existing investor SPH Ventures and new investors iGlobe Partners and XA Network, an angel investor network, also participated in the round.

The funds raised will be used to develop Partipost's tech platform and accelerate business expansion into Vietnam, as well as strengthen current operations in Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Quest Ventures partner Jeffrey Seah will join Partipost's board as a director. He was previously a board observer from an earlier investment by Quest.

Partipost matches brands to influencers with the highest brand affinity. With data insights collected through its in-app polls and user behaviours, the startup crowdsources influencers with follower sizes ranging from a few hundred to millions of followers.

Its clients include Pepsi, Dettol, The Body Shop, Chope, and brands under Unilever such as St Ives and Simple Skincare. Partipost said it recorded a threefold increase year-on-year in the total number of influencers during the pandemic.

"(The founders) have balanced the need to recruit brand-safe nano influencers who resonate with commercial partners, while pitching to and onboarding business partners looking for authentic direct-to-customer relationships as social commerce notches increasing contribution to sales," Mr Seah said.

Partipost rolled out two new initiatives - the Nano Ambassador and Mass Campaign programmes - that the company said sets it up to run over 10,000 campaigns with over three million influencers within the next 18 to 24 months.

Under the Nano Ambassador programme, brands work with the same few nano influencers over a longer period instead of working with many influencers for a one-off campaign. Nano influencers refer to everyday people with at least 200 followers on social media.

Under the Mass Campaign programme, brands run large-scale campaigns with Partipost's pool of readily available nano influencers. To encourage more influencers to share about the brand's product or service, the startup recommends running a simple campaign with minimal requirements and tasks such as reposting a given template.