Singapore-based mobile advertising firm AdNear has raised $19m in series B funding, in a sign of the rapidly developing digital economy there,  as the South East Asian (SEA) digital industry collectively bids to bolster its prominence in the wider advertising market. 

AdNear, a location-based advertising company, raised the amount from Telstra Ventures and Global Brain with existing investors, Sequoia Capital and Canaan Partners, also participated in the capital raising round.

The company will use the fUnds to expand its footprint in the region and bring additional products to market, with the latest round adding to the $6.3m series A round AdNear raised in 2012, see chart.

AdNear anonymously tracks mobile users via their historical location footprint both online and offline, crunches this data, and then uses the resulting insights to serve audiences with "relevance ads" using its proprietary real-time bidding platform.  It also boasts a client roster including several blue-hip clients including Adidas and P&G.

Mark Sherman, Telstra Ventures, managing director, and now AdNear director, said the investment signified the potential rapid growth of mobile advertising in the SEA region, and that "probabilistic targeting" was likely to fuel this growth in the near future.

Mohit Bhatnagar, Sequoia Capital, managing partner, said: “AdNear has been focused on analyzing location data at scale to understand user behaviour, and the response from clients across markets has been phenomenal.

"We believe that markets such as Japan present significant opportunities for AdNear’s technology and we look forward to leveraging our expertise and network to help the company succeed in these markets.”

SEA development

News of the announcement comes as the Singapore chapter of the IAB is preparing to push digital advertising's share of the overall advertising market to 20% over the next six years, a drive that was spurred last year by the trade body offering ad tech companies increased membership status last year (similar to a recent move by its US chapter).

Local market sources tell ExchangeWire supply-side players are now proactively involved in setting the regional industry agenda as a result of this move, with Oliver Legrand, IAB, Singapore, chairman, additionally noting that creation of seven industry committees this year is helping to further this progress.

In a blog post documenting the development, he adds: "They are focused on content, social, measurement and standards, video, mobile, marketing, ad tech, and innovation.

Regional role of ad tech

The regional digital industry has produced several significant programmatic players in recent months ,with Singtel-owned Amobee recently unveiling plans for its 'mega stack' to Wendy Hogan, ExchangeWire, editor, APAC, post its acquisition of Adconion and Kontera.

Similarly, India-based Vserv, which works with SEA mobile operators to help them collect data on mobile users based on their browsing habits, to serve ads, also announced a recent funding round, scoring $10-15m, according to reports.

Challenges remain

However, local market sources report that the historic barriers to the development of ad tech services in the region are still very much in place. Matt Harty, Experian, general manager, Singapore, and veteran of the regional space, recently told ExchangeWire: "I have routinely heard clients say there is not enough print on this plan!"

Meanwhile, Tom Simpson, Mediaquark, CEO, explains: "Programmatic will be massive in APAC, but there are key areas that need focus