Philippine media startup Kumu raises US$5m led by Openspace

KUMU Holdings, the startup behind the Philippine livestreaming app Kumu, has raised about US$5 million in a Series A round led by Openspace Ventures.

Other participants include Kickstart Ventures, the corporate venture firm of Philippine telco Globe Telecom, and media and entertainment company ABS-CBN. Gobi Core Philippine Fund, a fund launched through a partnership between Manila-based venture capital (VC) firm Core Capital and Asian VC firm Gobi Partners, also came on board the round.

Media company Summit Media and Philippine-based VC Foxmont Capital Partners followed on from a previous US$1.2 million seed round of funding.

The funding round comes at a time where the Covid-19 outbreak has forced people indoors and driven increased usage of apps in the media and entertainment categories.

Kumu said that in the past month, it has launched new initiatives to help groups such as churches and industry associations move their events online. It has also organised some of the Philippines' top celebrities to raise funds for families affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The fresh funds will be used by the startup to roll out new features and scale up its operations. Among these features is a live commerce platform that will enable users to buy products while watching their favorite livestreamers, giving content creators more opportunities to earn from their streams.

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Kumu's livestream e-commerce pilot generated almost 300 product purchases in a 10-minute period, said Kumu co-founder Roland Ros.

Hian Goh, founder and partner at Openspace Ventures, said: "As the rise of global interactive platforms such as TikTok and livestreaming apps gain acceptance with the younger generation, there remains a significant gap for local content and hyper-local networks."

The investment marks Openspace's second investment in the Philippines, following its investment in fashion e-commerce platform BeautyMNL.

Mr Goh added: "The Philippines, with 103 million citizens and a young, Internet-savvy population, has found Kumu to be a compelling addition to the media landscape, and the leadership of Roland and his co-founders have created a unique network, which we think will dominate the media landscape in the country in the coming years."