POKKT Acquired By Singapore-Based AnyMind Group In Expansion Bid

Indian mobile video advertising platform POKKT has been acquired by Singapore-based startup AnyMind Group, which provides advertising, marketing and HR solutions in Southeast Asia and the greater Asia Pacific markets

AnyMind Group, which started its operations in April 2016, has acquired five companies so far. This includes FourM and Grove in Japan, Moindy in Thailand, Acqua Media in Hong Kong, and now POKKT in India. 

Founded in 2012 by Rohit Sharma, Vaibhav Odhekar and Manish Tewari. The company offers an in-app smartphone ad platform that can be integrated into over 1000 app publishers. AnyMind Group is planning to integrate POKKT’s adtech stack into its AdAsia Digital Platform, which allows marketers to activate, manage and track media buys across platforms — desktops, mobile web display and video advertising, and digital-out-of-home. 

AnyMind Group will be leveraging POKKT’s strong presence in Southeast Asia and the Middle East to enter the India and UAE markets, extending Singapore-based company’s geographical span to 17 offices in 13 markets. AnyMind Group is planning to expand its CastingAsia, Casting Asia Creators Network and AdAsia businesses into the new markets.

Casting Asia is an end-to-end influencer marketing platform for discovering, activating, managing and tracking influencer marketing activities. CastingAsia Network is a scaled talent network across Asia that incubates and grows social media influencers and content creators. AdAsia offers marketing solutions to advertisers and publishers, including AdAsia Digital Platform and AdAsia Premium Marketplace. 

Kosuke Sogo, CEO and cofounder of AnyMind Group, said, “There is a strong and immediate synergy between both companies, including product and offering fit, geographies covered and management teams. Both advertisers and publishers across Asia and globally can only benefit from this deal taking place, as we look to scale our combined offerings and open up a new value for our customers.”

There have also been certain reshuffles in the upper management of AnyMind Group and POKKT with this acquisition. For instance, POKKT CEO and cofounder Sharma will now take over as the new COO of AnyMind, replacing Otohiko Kozutsumi. Kozutsumi, cofounder of AnyMind Group will now be the chief commercial officer of AnyMind Group. 

Meanwhile, Vaibhav Odhekar, COO and cofounder of POKKT, has been appointed as the managing director of India and the Middle East for AnyMind Group.