SEA martech Involve Asia appoints industry veteran, Rene E. Menezes as President

• Was ex-CEO of CtrlShift, one of largest independent adtech firms in SEA
• Involve Asia funded by 500 Startups, OSK Technology, Cradle Seed Ventures

Involve Asia, a martech platform for partnership marketing in Southeast Asia announced on Tuesday the appointment of digital marketing veteran and current board member, Malaysian, Rene E. Menezes, as President.

With the appointment, Involve Asia is strengthening its management team at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, off the back of three years of growth and profitability for the organisation. Involve Asia claims to serve over 4,000 brands and matches them to a pool of over 350,000 partners, generating over US$1.4 billion (RM6.15 billion) in sales since its launch in 2014.

Involve Asia is backed by venture capital firms 500 Startups, OSK Technology Ventures, and Cradle Seed Ventures and has an established presence across Asia with offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Menezes will be leading the commercial development of the organisation and will work in tandem with CEO and founder Jimmy How to manage the company and its stakeholders. He brings over 25 years of leadership experience to Involve Asia, including most recently as Director for the Southeast Asian partner office of SimilarWeb, and as former CEO of CtrlShift, which claims to be one of the largest independent adtech companies in Southeast Asia.

Additionally, Menezes brings an ethos of entrepreneurship with one of his first ventures as a startup founder, providing a low-risk model for the largest digital media companies to enter emerging markets, highlighted by a client list that included Yahoo!, MSN, Facebook, Waze, Spotify, BBC, ESPN, and Disney.

“As a board member of Involve Asia over the past eight years, I have witnessed the amazing growth of Involve’s business and value creation for both publishers and advertisers. I am excited to deepen my work with the team as we cement our position as the leader in e-commerce marketing in Southeast Asia,” said Menezes.

Growth of the digital advertising market

With consumption of digital services expected to remain strong after the pandemic, there is a growing focus on brands to reach audiences that shifted their consumption habits, leading to a projected 38% growth in digital ad spending in Southeast Asia between 2022 to 2026 according to Statista, from US$8.57 billion to US$11.81 billion respectively.

[RM1 = US$0.227]

Menezes added “Since the pandemic began, there has been a surge in e-commerce adoption across Southeast Asia. The market is going to see a more aggressive Involve Asia acquire new clients as the pool of potential customers which can benefit from our services has grown exponentially.”

Jimmy adds, “Rene has advised the business since its inception and has been able to lend counsel through some challenging decisions and helped us take actions that had a lasting positive impact on the company. I’m excited to have him in the trenches beside me as we charge forward to build on our recent performance with far more aggressive goals for the short and mid-term.”