Bukalapak Acquires Itemku, Synergy Strengthens Digital Asset Sales Line in the Game Industry

Bukalapak acquires my item, a platform online marketplace game-related digital products. This news was first conveyed by the Managing Partner of 500 Startups, Khailee Ng through an upload on his personal LinkedIn -- it is known that 500 Startups have invested in both Bukalapak and my item. Then also confirmed directly by the itemku.

Previously on May 11, 2021, Bukalapak also announced its strategic partnership with Itemku, with a mission to facilitate access to the video game industry in Indonesia. Bukalapak COO Willix Halim said, "I realize that the need for home entertainment increased during the pandemic, and my items are doing a great job of understanding those needs. I hope that with our common strength, we can help catalyze the need for digital gaming in Indonesia."

Meanwhile Founder & CEO Denis Kim itemku said, "Millions of Indonesians have used my items over the years. However, we want to do more than just make digital entertainment inclusive. I fully agree with Bukalapak's vision of building a fair economy for all, and that's why we decided to collaborate with them. We want to make a big impact for hundreds of millions of Indonesians, as they have done. Along with social impact, I hope this collaboration can bring rapid development in this industry."

With this partnership commitment, both itemku and Bukalapak will have a strong strategic collaboration commitment, including:

• Doing team synergy: Bukalapak and itemku work together as a team.
• Reaching access to more users across Indonesia: Itemku products are widely distributed through the Bukalapak network including in rural areas.
• Undertaking new project development together: many types of new projects to be developed together.

My item team said, for now and in the future my item will still stand as a separate entity. There are no plans to merge with marketplace Bukalapak. As is known, my item provides a service marketplace which allows users to trade digital game assets. They also sell various voucher for premium access to a game.

my item is part of Five Jack, founded in 2014. Besides 500 Startups, they also get funding support from Bon Angels Venture Partners.

In our previous interview, CPO itemku Virdienash Haqmal said, during 2020, the company's monthly GMV increased by 15-20%, as well as revenue. Customer growth also increased by 60% from January to June 2020. Meanwhile, for marketing activities, the company lowered budget up to 80%.

Game industry market overview

According to a report from Verizon, mobile gaming usage is up 75% over lockdown the first phase of 2020, compared to pre-pandemic times, and there were more than 2,3 billion mobile game downloads between March 5 and April 5, up 60% over the same time period the previous year. Other data submitted by Nielsen, spending on video games up 11% in March 2020 alone.

IDC analysts predict that there will be a 20% increase in global video game revenue in 2020 to $179,7 billion, higher than the film sector. The data show that A large number of people are getting to know and try video games for the first time during the pandemic and many of them will continue to play games in the future. This prediction is reinforced by a survey conducted by Google and Savanta in May 2020 of 7.611 people, that in fact there are 40% of new players will tend to continue playing when this pandemic situation is over, and as many as 65% say they will play games longer each session than before. previously.

Another study released in November 2020, conducted by NPD, found that people between the ages of 45 and 54 saw an increase in their time spent playing games by 59% over the past year, while the amount of money they spent on or in playing the game increased by 76%. For those between the ages of 55 and 64, the time spent playing games increased by 48%, while the amount of money they spent playing games increased by 73%.

And another fact shows that of the 5.000 people surveyed, 79% said they had played a video game in the previous six months, up 6% from the previous year. These studies and research show that video games are not only interesting for children and teenagers, but for those who are older, video games are a solution for them in eliminating boredom during the Covid-19 pandemic.