iMedia, a digital media company, has acquired Lovelife Technologies Sdn Bhd, the owner and operator of online beauty retailer Favful, as its first step in entering the social commerce sector. iMedia is taking on the job of increasing Lovelife Technologies’ revenue from influencer advertising and branded content under the terms of the agreement.
Additionally, it will be responsible for content creation, site-targeted engagement, and general community development on the websites and social media properties of Favful. Under the terms of the agreement, all of Lovelife Technologies’ social media assets will be fully integrated into iMedia’s ecosystem.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Petaling Jaya, Favful combines crowd intelligence from its community preference intelligence generated through machine learning. The company added that its social commerce platform is dedicated to make users’ online beauty shopping experience stress-free.
According to Voon Tze Khay, CEO and co-founder of iMedia, the current technology behind Favful’s platform allows it to analyse the sentiments of both users’ and the community’s voices, providing the opportunity to understand their interest and demand better. He added that this technology “will now be extended to the online websites of iMedia to deliver more targeted content that are relevant to our users.”
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Favful was founded by the current CEO Sasha Tan, who was a recipient of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Retail and Commerce Award in 2017. Tan stated that the company’s decision to join iMedia in its mission to become the number one integrated digital group in Malaysia “presents Favful with a solid case to be part of the iMedia family.” She went on to say that Favful has grown into a trusted community marketplace, with over 3,000 beauty and lifestyle influencer members and an estimated social media reach of more than 146 million people. Tan claims that by integrating with ITTIFY (iMedia’s existing influencer agency), the combined social media audience reach will be well in excess of 172 million people.
iMedia has confirmed six acquisitions over the last 12 months, including Favful. The other five are OhMedia, Ittify, Goody25, BeautifulNara, and Moretify. The combined following of its platforms and websites now reaches more than 15 million Malaysians each month, according to the company. It also has video streaming agreements with companies such as Viu, WeTV, and iflix.
According to a share sale agreement signed with Rev Asia in September of last year, the latter will acquire a 100% stake in iMedia for approximately RM40 million, subject to completion and regulatory approval of the transaction. The acquisition by Rev Asia, as well as the Favful acquisition, will be part of iMedia’s move to Bursa Malaysia.
