South Korea's Yello Digital Marketing buys majority stake in Gushcloud

SOUTH Korean digital marketing group Yello Digital Marketing (YDM) has acquired a majority stake in Singapore-based digital marketing startup Gushcloud in a "multi-million dollar deal", the latter said on Friday.

Following the deal, YDM will shift its South-east Asian (SEA) headquarters to Singapore, where it will house up to 200 employees in a new office in the Central Business District.

Gushcloud co-founders Vincent Ha and Althea Lim will retain a "significant minority shareholding" and take on "strategic roles" within YDM, such as leading its SEA expansion plans for content and influencer marketing.

Said Mr Ha: "We are truly excited to become part of the YDM group. Their vision to build SEA's number one digital media and marketing company is completely aligned with ours."

Korean brands, he added, are taking the region and the rest of the world "by storm", dominating in the areas of mobile phones, household appliances, skincare, fashion, entertainment and pop culture. "Gushcloud and its sister companies look forward to working with the many of these Korean brands to help them stand out from the clutter in the online world," he said.

YDM's CEO Lee Sang Seok added: "Singapore is a strategic base because of its location, its reputation as an established regional hub for businesses and the sophistication of its consumer markets. Through Gushcloud, we hope to tap the huge potential in content and data to meet our clients' needs in the dynamic digital world."

Gushcloud is the 17th acquisition for YDM, and the latter's first in Singapore.

In March, Gushcloud was found to have instructed its bloggers to create messages to promote a youth mobile plan belonging to its client Singtel, by undermining the telco's rivals StarHub and M1.