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Emerging markets to drive global social networking market revenue to 264 billion USD by 2024 – Frost & Sullivan

New study finds emerging markets are driving rapid social networking growth and a shift to live video and voice interaction

 

BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach – 10 May 2021 – Demand from young populations in emerging markets is driving rapid global social networking market growth and a concurrent shift to live video and voice applications. These findings come from new research released by Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company.

Frost & Sullivan’s report, entitled Social Networking in Emerging Markets, finds that the global live social market—which refers to social networking applications that focus on live video and voice interaction—is expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.6% to more than triple in size from 19.7 billion USD in 2019 to 64.1 billion USD in 2024. In the same period, live social revenue from emerging markets is forecast show a significantly higher CAGR of 41.7% to rise from 1.5 billion USD in 2019 to 8.6 billion USD in 2024.

Emerging markets drive substantial live social market growth

Emerging markets in Southeast Asia, India, Pakistan, the Middle East, and Africa are driving an increasingly large proportion of this live social market growth. Young populations, rapid economic growth, and advanced mobile internet technology rollout mean growth in these markets is on track to significantly outpace the global average.

“We expected to find strong social networking market growth in emerging markets, but were surprised to see how quickly the contribution of these markets is increasing, particularly in the live social space,” said Gabriel Lu, Partner at Frost & Sullivan. “The proportion of global live social revenue arising from emerging markets is forecast to grow from 7.6% in 2019 to 13.4% in 2024 as these markets account for a higher portion of live social market growth. Apps such as Uplive and Bigo are increasingly delivering products tailored to meet the needs of young users in emerging markets.”

Whereas the global median age was 30.9 years in 2019, Malaysia’s was 30.3 years, Indonesia’s was 29.7 years, India’s was 28.4 years, and the Philippines’ was just 25.7 years. Large population bases and high proportions of younger generations in emerging markets jointly point to huge potential user bases for social networking. The combined social networking user base in emerging markets is approximately 1.6 billion, which is about 60% larger than the user base in developed economies (the US and Western Europe).

This young population profile combines with still spotty mobile internet coverage in many of these markets to represent significant social media market growth potential, especially when compared to relatively mature developed markets. For example, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa alone account for approximately 67% of the world’s total population without access to mobile broadband internet connections.

Live social dating market grows as culture and technology evolves

Rapid live social market growth is not only being felt in the live video and voice segments, but is also driving explosive growth in the online dating market. The online dating market was worth 5.4 billion USD globally in 2019 and is forecast to show a CAGR of 23.8% to reach 15.7 billion USD by 2024.

Live social dating growth in emerging markets is on track to far exceed that of developed markets. Emerging markets accounted for just 11.1% of global online dating revenue in 2019, but above-average growth means that they should account for 18.2% of revenue by 2024.

Gabriel explained, “Users in emerging markets generally prefer face-to-face communication to traditional text messaging, which still dominates most developed market dating apps. For example, cultural and religious customs in some emerging markets might frown upon in-person dating, leading young people to engage in relationships that are primarily or entirely carried out via video and voice chat.”

Major live social dating segment players in these markets include: Tinder, Badoo, Happn, Lamour, and Azar.

Strong demand drivers point to continued growth in emerging markets

As young users increasingly demand video- or voice-based live social networking, social and economic factors suggest that emerging markets will continue to be the key drivers of global social networking market growth. These factors include: young populations; rapid economic growth; increasing internet penetration; mobile internet technology upgrades; and growing willingness to pay for online services.

About Frost & Sullivan:

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today’s market participants. For more than 60 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community.

#Frost&Sullivan

Infinity Ventures and e.ventures Are Rebranding Under New Name Headline

TOKYO, JAPAN – Media OutReach – 10 May 2021 – As of May 10, 2021, Early-stage venture capital firms Infinity Ventures in Asia and e.ventures in the US and Europe will be rebranding together as Headline. For the last 10 years, the two funds have helped one another on a deal-by-deal basis, including building digital coupon company, Groupon Japan from the ground up, establishing fashion e-commerce site Farfetch in Japan, and investing in Yeahka, China’s largest QR code aggregator which went IPO in Hong Kong in 2019.

 

The relationship between Infinity Ventures and e.ventures has been mutually beneficial. Each generation of fund has had some winners from this association. The greatest lesson we have learned from our decade-long relationship is that with the aid of global, cross-regional knowledge, we have been able to catch the wave on new internet trends rising in one part of the world, and riding it out to another.

What we’ll gain from further collaboration is we will have access to more global data and trends. With our shared network of information, well have more rapid and more efficient insight into internet tech trends happening around the globe and that is what’s going to make us better VCs,” Infinity Ventures founder Akio Tanaka says, The world is becoming more connected, ideas from one part of the world to another travel much, much faster today. There is no such thing as purely regional deals anymore. Every regional deal in the future will have an international angle. For VCs to find winners early, and opportunities that scale, you need international intelligence. That’s what we have had so far working with Redpoint and e.ventures, and that’s what we’re betting on further with Headline.”

Moving forward, Infinity Ventures existing offices in Beijing, Taipei, and Tokyo will be known as Headline Asia. Headline will also have offices in San Francisco, Berlin, Paris, and São Paulo.

About Headline Asia

Headline Asia a venture capital firm, focused on early stage internet companies with offices in Tokyo, Taipei, and Beijing. The firm manages $300M USD, and has invested in more than 100 startups and produced 9 IPOs. Since its founding, Headline Asia has grown alongside its portfolio companies to build category-leading innovators and unicorns including Groupon, Farfetch, freee, Yeahka, WealthNavi, and 17Live.

#InfinityVentures #Headline

Spicing it up with Cloud Comrade: Baba Products powers digital transformation efforts with successful migration to a cloud-based IT infrastructure

  • By building a secure, scalable and high-performance cloud-based IT infrastructure, Cloud Comrade equips BABA’S with a strong foundation to support future growth while delivering greater efficiencies, significant cost and time savings.

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 10 May 2021 – Malaysia’s leading manufacturer of spice powder, curry mixes and flour mixes, Baba Products (“BABA’S”) has taken another giant leap forward in its digital transformation with the successful deployment of a secure, scalable and robust cloud-based IT infrastructure.

Ilaventhan Vijaya – Head of Finance, Baba’s Group of Companies

Singapore-based cloud computing consultancy Cloud Comrade led the selection, planning and execution of the migration from an on-premise infrastructure to Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the preferred cloud provider.

Faster order processing, reduced cash cycle

In the first phase of the migration, BABA’S implemented SAP’s future ready enterprise resource planning system, SAP S/4HANA, on AWS and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications. By selecting AWS’s on-demand infrastructure, BABA’S joins over 5,000 customers using SAP on AWS today, to achieve faster time to value, the flexibility to adapt to changing business requirements, and future proofing their SAP workloads with the ability to scale up to 48 TB of memory for their S/4HANA database. BABA’s is using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), which offers the broadest selection of SAP-certified, cloud native instance types, offering the flexibility for BABA’S to support their current and future unique growth requirements. Amazon Elastic Block Storage (Amazon EBS) is used to provide high-performance block-level storage volumes, to keep up with the performance demands of modern SAP workloads. To protect BABA’S data, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) with its designed for 99.999999999% (11 9’s) of data durability was selected, to resiliently store backups. Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) provides seamless integration between on-premises users and systems, and SAP systems in Amazon VPC. Tools such as AWS Management Console and AWS CloudFormation are used to provide a simple and intuitive web-based interface and to automate the deployment and management of AWS resources. Automation tools such as AWS CloudFormation, the AWS Quick Starts for SAP, and AWS Launch Wizard for SAP, deliver fully functional SAP applications on AWS, such as SAP S/4HANA.

Adopting SAP S/4HANA on the AWS cloud, followed by the SAP Direct Store Delivery mobile app along with its enhanced SAP CRM with photo-taking, has proven cost-efficient for BABA’S, shortening their order processing and delivery times by 50 percent, and reducing order-to-cash cycles by over 40 percent.

Laying a foundation for significant performance improvement and future innovation

Cloud Comrade’s Well Architected Framework also lays a strong foundation for significant performance improvement and future innovation. SAP S/4HANA has helped BABA’S provide real-time decision support to end users, saving processing time and enabling the business to instead focus their resources on strategic growth efforts. As this was a mission-critical application for BABA’S, it was deployed on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, which is a reliable, manageable, and highly available platform fully optimized for all SAP mission-critical applications.

Speed, flexibility, innovation, and efficiency

To automate the organisation’s HR operations, Cloud Comrade along with AWS helped BABA’s to implement Orisoft’s HR software to offer a complete end-to-end suite of human capital management and payroll solutions. The company also opted for the feature-rich, end-to-end human capital management and payroll solutions offered by SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Payroll due to the speed, scalability, accuracy, efficiency, and compliance with local / regional HR regulations that it delivered.

The automation and ‘anytime, anywhere’ accessibility of the organization’s SAP SuccessFactors enabled BABA’S to save HR staff costs and time, while increasing speed and operational efficiency and ensuring highest levels of security and compliance. Moreover, the real-time reporting and analytics capabilities allows for faster decision-making. BABA’S is reaping the benefits of improved and more efficient recruitment, talent management and employee engagement.

Moving to the cloud a strategic imperative

“We deemed moving to the cloud as a strategic imperative to support our growth plans and customer-centricity. Not only did we recognize the enormous savings in IT infrastructure and manpower costs, but also the great impact of speed, scale and security on almost every aspect of our business that the cloud offered,” said Ilaventhan Vijaya, Head of Finance, BABA’S Group of Companies.

“In Cloud Comrade, AWS and the foundation of SUSE Linux Enterprise, we found the right collaboration and platform to help us make this pivotal transition and transformation. The cutting-edge features, expertise and support during every step of this process contributed to the ROI immediately; well-positioning us to capitalize on new business opportunities.”

“Based on our experience in migration and managed services and a thorough understanding of BABA’S vision and business needs for the future, we were confident that the bespoke cloud-based framework we have developed was the right choice for the company,” said Andy Waroma, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Director of Cloud Comrade. “It is heartening and immensely fulfilling to make a significant positive impact on an already large and fast-growing organization like BABA’S within a short period of implementation. We will always be driven by and committed to enabling our clients get the best ROI on their IT deployments.”

About BABA Products

Established in 1977, Baba Products (M) Sdn Bhd (‘BABA’S’) is Malaysia’s leading manufacturer of curry mixes, spices and flour items with a market share of over 60%. Its vast product portfolio comprises over 30 products ranging from masala mixes, pure spice powders, pure food mixes, snacks and sweet mixes. BABA’S can be found in North America, Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, most of Southeast Asia and almost every Malaysian kitchen. Studies show that at least one in the three main meals consumed by Malaysians daily contains at least one product from the BABA’S range. For more information, visit BABA’S.

About Cloud Comrade:

Cloud Comrade is a Singapore-based cloud computing consultancy company with a regional footprint in Indonesia and Malaysia also. The company offers a comprehensive range of services from strategy and design to deployment, migration, and management of customers’ IT infrastructure. Cloud Comrade partners with the best solution providers in the field of cloud computing and is a preferred Amazon Web Services (AWS) consulting partner in ASEAN, as well as a managed service provider for AWS, Google, and Alibaba Cloud. In January 2019, ST Telemedia (sttelemedia.com), an active strategic investor specializing in communications & media, data centers, and infrastructure technology businesses, acquired a majority stake in the company. For more information on Cloud Comrade, visit cloudcomrade.com.

#BABAProducts #CloudComrade

Laos Confirms 69 New Cases of Covid-19 and First Death

Covid-19 update

Laos has confirmed 69 new cases of Covid-19 today and announced its first death as a result of the coronavirus.

Laos Confirms First Covid-19 Death

Laos confirms first death from Covid-19

A Vietnamese national has died of Covid-19, becoming the first confirmed death attributed to the coronavirus in Laos.

Chinese Medical Personnel Assist Lao Ministry of Health

Chinese medical experts assist Lao Ministry of Health

Medical personnel from China have begun working closely with their Lao counterparts to assist in the battle against Covid-19.

28 New Cases of Covid-19 in Laos as Central Bank Announces Policies

Bank of the Lao PDR

Laos has confirmed 28 new cases of Covid-19 (out of 1,588 tested yesterday), bringing the total number of cases in the country to 1,233.

Woodfibre LNG signs second sales agreement with BP Gas Marketing Limited

SQUAMISH, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA – Media OutReach – 7 May 2021 – Woodfibre LNG has taken another step toward shipping some of the world’s cleanest LNG to Asian markets, where it can offset coal and displace millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas every year.

Pacific Oil & Gas Limited’s (PO&G) wholly-owned subsidiary, Woodfibre LNG, has signed a second LNG Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with BP Gas Marketing Limited (BPGM), a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of BP Plc, for the delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from PO&G’s Woodfibre LNG export facility near Squamish, British Columbia. Under the terms of the SPA, BPGM will receive 0.75 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG over 15 years on a free on board (FOB) basis. This latest SPA will increase BPGM’s total LNG off-take to 1.5 MTPA, over 70 per cent of Woodfibre LNG’s future annual production.

“Forward-looking companies like BP are turning to projects like ours for sustainable, stable gas that will supply a clean energy mix,” said Ratnesh Bedi, PO&G President. “We look forward to working with BPGM to deliver Canadian natural gas from one of the lowest carbon footprint LNG facilities in the world, and help advance the climate goals of growing economies as they phase away from coal, lower their emissions, and meet net-zero targets.” Pacific Oil & Gas is a member of the Singapore-based RGE group of companies. Founded by Sukanto Tanoto, RGE manages a group of resource-based manufacturing companies with global operations.

“The use of renewable energy for e-drive power places Woodfibre – and Squamish – at the forefront of the world’s clean energy transition,” said Ron Bailey, president of Woodfibre LNG.

About Woodfibre LNG Limited

The Woodfibre LNG project is located approximately 7 km west-southwest of Squamish, British Columbia. It involves the construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility on the previous Woodfibre pulp mill site. The facility would have a storage capacity of 250,000 m3 and would produce approximately 2.1 (MTPA) of LNG. Woodfibre LNG is a privately held Canadian company based in Vancouver and Squamish, and is a subsidiary of Pacific Oil & Gas Limited.


About Pacific Oil & Gas

Woodfibre LNG is a subsidiary of Pacific Oil & Gas (PO&G), an independent energy resources development company. PO&G’s business includes major investments throughout the energy supply chain, including oil and gas developments, power plants and gas transmission networks, LNG receiving terminals, and the Woodfibre LNG project in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. Pacific Oil & Gas is a member of the RGE group of companies. RGE manages a group of resource-based manufacturing companies with global operations.


#WoodfibreLNG #PacificOil&Gas #PO&G