Migme's Acquisition of Hipwee and Shopdeca is a Targeted Maneuver

In its disclosure on the Australian Stock Exchange, the platform socialentertainment Migme announced the acquisition of two local services, Hipwee and ShopDeca. Migme CEO Steven Goh to Tech In Asia mention the total acquisition cost was $2 million (Rp 27 billion) in cash and shares. The co-founders of each company will remain with the company and become part of Migme as of early 2016.

The acquisition of e-commerce and popular media services is arguably Migme's significant business maneuver in Indonesia after its popularity waned since traditional consumers switched from Java phones to Android smartphones.

It is not surprising that these two startups were finally chosen. Shopdeca is an e-commerce service that sells lifestyle items, while Hipwee is an online medium that targets the lifestyles of young people. Matches the market segment Migme expects.

We expect Hipwee to continue to exist as a separate business entity considering that brandwhich is quite strong among young people. Migme itself intends to replicate Hipwee's business methods and content to India and the Philippines, which are the next potential markets for Migme.

For Shopdeca itself, there is a tendency for its business entities to be merged into the e-commerce entity Migme, moreover Shopdeca Founder Andreas Thamrin will join Migme as Global Head of Ecommerce. Migme has previously acquired Singapore's e-commerce service Sold.sg.

As a social entertainment platform, the acquisition of these two services is very interesting and we think it is right on target. We are waiting to see if this acquisition process will be the start of Migme's business revival in Asia.