Singapore private equity fund, Makara, has taken a S$70 million stake in Asia Pacific Internet services provider MyRepublic.
Billed as Asia’s largest IP-Driven fund, the Makara Innovation Fund (MIF) says its investment in ISP MyRepublic – which operates in the Australian telecoms and wider APAC telecoms market - is because the “techtelco” had been identified by MIF and IP ValueLab as having the potential to become an IP powerhouse, and it will work closely with the company to implement IP monetisation and commercialisation strategies to create further enterprise value.
Makara says it aims to accelerate MyRepublic’s expansion across South East Asia’s lucrative markets, building on its existing core geographies of operation in Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Kelvin Tan, Director of Investments at Makara Capital said MyRepublic's “unique lean operating model positions it at the vanguard of the telecommunications sector’s digital transformation in one of the most exciting growth regions of the world”.
{loadposition peter}Makara describes MyRepublic as the “the first telcotech player in the world, bringing the first cloud-based platform to the telecommunications space”.
“The Fund’s investment capital aims to enable the company’s growth ambitions, with a focus on IP management and monetisation, scaling and expansion.”
According to Shau En Tan, Executive Director of Makara strategic partner IP ValueLab, which conducted due diligence on MyRepublic - “in today’s global economy, IP is the most fundamental source of competitive advantage in business”.
“Home-grown TelcoTech player, MyRepublic, clearly appreciates the importance of IP, having built a strong business model around a robust suite of intangible assets and IP, reinforcing their competitive edge with strong brand equity, technical know-how, substantial data assets and scalable digital platforms.”
Malcolm Rodrigues, CEO of MyRepublic said, Iin addition to providing growth-stage capital, MIF had proven to be a valuable partner that recognises MyRepublic as an “industry trailblazer, reinventing the economics of telecommunications”.
“We have a deep appreciation of MIF’s differentiated investment approach, and share its vision for scaling up dynamic enterprises and supporting internationalisation,” Rodrigues said.
“We have been developing our proprietary cloud platform for the past five years, which has enabled us to deploy a single operational platform across countries and break industry records by turning EBITDA-positive within two years of entering each new market. The investment will supercharge the platform’s development, support our aggressive growth path to expand our regional footprint within a record-breaking timeframe and deliver an even wider range of services.”
As reported by iTWire, just last month the managing director of MyRepublic claimed the average revenue per user earned by the operator of the National Broadband Network, NBN Co, will continue to be low because bigger telcos like Telstra, Optus, TPG and Vocus push slow-speed connections to their customers in order to avoid popularising the NBN.
Nicholas Demos told iTWire that the big four had no interest in making the NBN an attractive proposition because it was a direct competitor to their businesses – and he pointed to a statement made by NBN Co chief executive Bill Morrow, where the latter had said that the company was getting $43 per month from retail service providers but needed $52 if it was to break even.