Consumer Internet company AskMe is planning to take its services to West African and South-East Asian countries where digital and mobile telephony are among the fast-growing categories.
“We are in advanced negotiations to enter new markets where there is no clear leader in this space. These would be faster growing emerging economies like Indonesia and the Philippines. We may enter on our own or through acquisitions depending on the regulations of that particular country,’’ said Manav Sethi, Group Head, Marketing & Digital Products, AskMe. West African countries such as Nigeria are expected to be the next destination.
“Airtel is already operating in Nigeria and would be riding on such telcos to make an entry in this market. These are untapped markets where mobile telephony is growing,” he added. The company has floated a subsidiary in Malaysia, Get it Transnational, to launch the new brand with JWT Malaysia. Singapore could be another destination in South-East Asia.
AskMe is now planning to raise money from private equity players as a pre-IPO funding option before getting listed. “We are planning to garner about ₹5,000 crore through an IPO but before that there would be pre-IPO offer made to private equity players as we need the funds for category expansion and brand building. The company would get listed outside the country possibly at London or Nasdaq,” added Sethi.
Generating revenues from the merchants listed on its site and advertisers and deals, AskMe is now creating separate business verticals across categories such as fashion, travel, weddings, health and wellness and gadgets.
It is also getting on board services of professionals like doctors to seek more monetising opportunities.