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Tag: Kosuke Sogo

  • Anymind banks on avatars to fast-track brand live streaming

    Anymind banks on avatars to fast-track brand live streaming

    MUMBAI: Talk about putting your money where your face is. Anymind group is banking on avatars to give live commerce a fresh facelift.

    The company has rolled out its new ‘Avatar Bank’ on Anylive, its AI-powered live commerce platform. Think of it as a ready-to-wear wardrobe, but for digital hosts: brands can now dip into a library of pre-made AI avatars instead of spending time and money creating one from scratch.

    The appeal? Speed and savings. With avatars off the shelf, brands can launch streams in just a week, making live commerce campaigns quicker, leaner and far less of a production headache. For brands juggling multiple campaigns, that’s as close to plug-and-play as it gets.

    Anylive isn’t just about pretty faces either. The platform can deliver content in multiple languages, run streams around the clock, and crunch data from both human and AI-led sessions to help brands fine-tune scripts and performances. The Avatar Bank slips neatly into this ecosystem, letting businesses mix and match, use custom avatars for premium projects, or pick from the bank when speed matters.

    Anymind Group, ceo and co-founder, Kosuke Sogo said the feature has already gained traction in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. “This update makes it easier than ever for brands to incorporate AI avatars into their live commerce efforts. We will expand our lineup to give brands more choice, helping them achieve maximum results with minimal effort,” he said.

    For a world hungry for faster campaigns, the message is clear: avatars aren’t just virtual, they’re virtually indispensable.

  • AnyMind seals sweet deal with AnyReach to power up global gift-tech game

    AnyMind seals sweet deal with AnyReach to power up global gift-tech game

    MUMBAI: Wrapped with tech and tied with synergy, Anymind Group has just added another bow to its box of digital surprises this time, a full acquisition of Japanese e-gifting innovator, Anyreach. The Tokyo-based firm, best known for its platform Anygift, will now operate under the Anymind umbrella, marking the group’s 10th acquisition and its fifth in Japan.

    Founded in 2016, Anymind has grown into a global BPaaS (Business Process as a Service) player across marketing, e-commerce, and digital transformation, now spanning 15 markets. Its latest move not only fortifies its grip on the booming e-commerce landscape but also gifts it a stronghold in Japan’s rapidly expanding digital gifting space.

    AnyGift, used by over 700 companies in Japan lets online shoppers send physical or digital gifts without needing the recipient’s address, a feature that has found massive favour in a market projected to hit 257 billion dollars by 2027.

    On the completed acquisition, Anyreach CEO and founder Konosuke Nakajima said, “We founded AnyReach in 2021 with the mission to create a global e-gifting platform. In less than three years, Anygift has been adopted by over 700 companies, solidifying its position in Japan. By joining forces with AnyMind Group, which operates in 15 countries and regions, we can expand globally and continue innovating beyond digital gifting, incorporating offline experiences as well. Together, we aim to build the world’s No.1 platform in the gift-tech industry.”

    Anymind Group CEO and co-founder Kosuke Sogo said, “With this acquisition, our 10th M&A deal and fifth in Japan, we are accelerating our expansion in the e-commerce space. By combining our technology and expertise in marketing and e-commerce with AnyReach’s e-gift platform, we will provide new value to enterprise e-commerce strategies, support brand growth, and deliver unique purchasing experiences to consumers worldwide.”

    The acquisition brings a potent trifecta of capabilities into play. By fusing Anygift with Anymind’s e-commerce platform AnyX and influencer marketing engine Anytag, the newly united teams are poised to offer next-level solutions to brands looking to stand out in the digital bazaar.

    Beyond business, the acquisition symbolises a new phase in what both companies call the “gift-tech” revolution where digital convenience meets emotional expression, now at a global scale.

    From Southeast Asia to the world, it seems gifting just got an upgrade.

  • Anymind adds horsepower with five senior hires to supercharge AI-native BPaaS transformation

    Anymind adds horsepower with five senior hires to supercharge AI-native BPaaS transformation

    MUMBAI: Anymind Group just hit the gas pedal on its AI-native ambitions and they didn’t stop for speed limits. In one of its biggest leadership reshuffles yet, the Singapore- and India-headquartered BPaaS (Business process as a service) player has appointed five heavy-hitters to steer its next-gen business engine into high gear. With talent sourced from Google, P&G, and its own rising stars, Anymind’s management garage is now fully tuned for the next leg of digital transformation.

    Announced on 16 April 2025, the appointments reflect the company’s aggressive pivot toward an AI-native BPaaS model essentially, AI meets ops meets scalability. With a focus on marketing, e-commerce, creator economy, and fulfillment, the company is throwing every tool in the tech shed at building a future-ready, hyper-scalable engine for growth.

    CEO & co-founder Kosuke Sogo put it plainly, “These appointments mark a significant step forward as we scale our solutions across Asia and beyond. With deep expertise in technology, digital commerce, and fulfillment, we’re strengthening the leadership we need to navigate the next phase of our growth and shape the future of how business is done.”

    Ryuji Takemoto takes charge as chief product officer, The company’s first-ever CPO, Takemoto has been with Anymind since day one, literally he was their first engineer in 2016. Now, he will embed AI across the company’s operations, lead the AI App Studio, and integrate next-gen product development across five engineering hubs in Tokyo, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangalore, and Hangzhou.

    “As Anymind advances our transformation to become an AI-native company, I am committed to accelerating this journey by deepening the implementation of AI technologies into our platforms and enhance feature sets,” said Takemoto.

    Shodai Fujita becomes country manager, Japan, Fujita started as a fresh grad with Anymind, cut his teeth in Thailand and Vietnam, then launched influencer marketing in Japan. After co-leading the Japanese market, he now takes full control of the company’s business in one of Asia’s biggest consumer markets.

    “Having started my career at Anymind and grown alongside the company, I’m deeply honoured to now lead our Japan business,” said Fujita, ready to ride the AI wave with local precision.

    Kiatisak Watcharapruk joins as MD of creator growth, Fresh out of Google’s Asia-Pacific HQ, where he spearheaded the launch of Gemini and other AI products, Kiatisak steps in to replace Moindy founder Punsak Limvatanayingyong. He now leads the creator growth division, which supports over 2,900 content creators globally.

    “I’m thrilled to join Anymind Group at such a pivotal time for the creator economy,” he said. “I’m particularly excited to harness the power of AI to optimise content creation, distribution, and monetisation.”

    Masaki Okawa joins as MD of strategy, Ex-P&G exec and Logipeace strategist, Okawa will be driving business across e-commerce, emerging markets, and revenue-scale initiatives. With 16 years of global FMCG experience, he’s got just the toolkit to make spreadsheets and storytelling work together. “I aspire to be a catalyst to take Anymind to the next level,” he said, adding that AI + BPaaS + business dev = his new formula for success.

    Steven Tan becomes MD of fulfillment, keeps CEO hat at Arche Digital, Having joined via the acquisition of Malaysia-based Arche Digital, Tan now expands his remit across warehousing, shipping, and Anylogi Anymind’s international logistics platform.

    “We’re taking a strategic step to drive further operational excellence and sustainable scalability,” said Tan, looking to connect the dots between offline grit and online smarts. This management power-up follows closely on the heels of Lan Anh Nguyen’s appointment as country manager for Vietnam earlier this year. With a roster this stacked, Anymind seems more than ready to drive their BPaaS machine into uncharted and AI-automated territory.
     

  • AnyMind Group launches AnyLive

    AnyMind Group launches AnyLive

    Mumbai: AnyMind Group has launched its GenAI-powered live commerce platform, AnyLive, designed to help businesses run live commerce in multiple languages without the constraints of time or location. The platform uses AI-generated virtual live streamers modeled to reflect a brand’s identity. These avatars can stream continuously, presenting products and driving sales in multiple languages, including English, Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, Bahasa Malaysia, Vietnamese, and Tagalog, with more languages to come.

    AnyLive addresses the challenges of navigating language barriers, cultural nuances, and local regulations in the growing APAC e-commerce market. It automates live commerce processes, allowing businesses to overcome obstacles in cross-border expansion, talent shortages, and limited production spaces. The platform also leverages large-language models to generate live-stream scripts and automated responses.

    AnyLive integrates with major e-commerce and social media platforms like Amazon, Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X, enabling brands to reach broader audiences through simultaneous broadcasts. Additionally, AnyMind Group is building teams to provide operational support, including data-driven insights to optimise live streams, and offers access to its influencer marketing platform, AnyTag, to collaborate with human streamers for better engagement.

    AnyMind Group CEO & co-founder Kosuke Sogo said: “Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market presents a tremendous growth opportunity, not just for local brands but also for companies around the world. With the launch of AnyLive, we aim to offer an innovative approach to social commerce and digital marketing. By leveraging our advanced technology and the expertise of our teams across Southeast Asia, East Asia, India and the Middle East, we are committed to helping businesses establish a competitive edge in this dynamic market.”

    Early adopters of AnyLive have seen significant results. Sino-Pacific Trading (Thailand) Co, using AnyLive for Evian in Thailand, reduced costs by 90 per cent while increasing monthly streaming hours. Additionally, GenAI live streamers outperformed human streamers in GMV for Evian Nil Co’s Suna brand in Thailand and Malaysia, boosted live commerce sales, and provided valuable insights into viewership patterns. The company now plans to enhance its live commerce strategy by combining AI and human streamers.

  • AnyMind Group names Siddharth Kelkar & Aditya Aima to lead India & MENA

    AnyMind Group names Siddharth Kelkar & Aditya Aima to lead India & MENA

    Mumbai: AnyMind Group has announced that MD of performance business – Siddharth Kelkar, and MD of growth markets – Aditya Aima, will take on additional roles as co-managing directors for India and MENA.

    They will take over from Rubeena Singh, who leaves on 15 October 2024. Kelkar and Aima, who joined AnyMind through the acquisition of POKKT in 2020 after serving seven and five years at POKKT, will now co-lead operations, driving business expansion, strategic partnerships, and growth in these regions.

    On the appointments, AnyMind Group CEO and co-founder Kosuke Sogo said, “Both Siddharth and Aditya have proven themselves to be strong leaders in their respective fields, and are always thirsty for new growth, directly reflecting a trait that runs through our management team. We are confident that with their leadership, we are able to help even more businesses become borderless in what is a vast region that possesses great potential.”

    Siddharth Kelkar has been a part of the media industry for over 20 years and has worked across digital, print and broadcasting mediums. Before joining AnyMind Group and POKKT, Kelkar held leadership roles in SVG Media, Ozone Media and Reliance Games (Zapak). He has also worked with The Times Group, Hindustan Times and CNBC TV18.

    On his appointment, Kelkar said, “I’m excited to take on this expanded responsibility at a time when both India and the MENA regions are at the cusp of transformative growth in digital, marketing, and e-commerce landscapes. Leveraging AnyMind’s cutting-edge solutions, we aim to drive innovation, empower businesses, and build deeper partnerships that will fuel long-term success for our clients across these key markets. I look forward to working with Aditya and the wider team at AnyMind to further scale our presence and impact.”

    Aditya Aima has over two decades of experience, including the ad tech, broadcast and publishing industries. Before joining AnyMind Group and POKKT, Aima held leadership positions in Culture Machine Media, Astro Malaysia, Bloomberg TV and Turner Broadcasting System.

    During his appointment, Aima said, “It’s an honor to co-lead the India and MENA regions, which present immense opportunities for growth. With the rapid digital transformation happening across both markets, we are uniquely positioned to help businesses unlock their full potential using AnyMind’s integrated platform for marketing, e-commerce, and digital transformation. Together with Siddharth, we are committed to driving strategic initiatives that will not only support our clients but also solidify AnyMind’s leadership in these dynamic markets.”

    AnyMind Group entered the Indian market in 2020 by acquiring mobile advertising platform POKKT, which operates across India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. POKKT is integrated with international app publishers and offers video and rich media ad solutions. AnyMind Group’s technology and operations focus on two areas: brand commerce (e-commerce, marketing, logistics, production, and conversational commerce) and partner growth (solutions for creators and publishers).

  • Ozone Media, MicroAd partner to serve digital consumers in southeast Asia

    Ozone Media, MicroAd partner to serve digital consumers in southeast Asia

    MUMBAI: Ozone Media, an India-based digital technology company, has entered into a partnership with MicroAd, an online ad platform company in Japan, to enable dynamic retargeting which allows advertisers to create and manage personalised advertisements for every single customer.

     

    The collaboration with MicroAd will ensure that display campaigns, served via its integrated management platform ‘MicroAd BLADE’, are optimised to meet the specific goals of advertisers in southeast Asia – especially in the travel and tourism, and e-commerce verticals. Online ad spend is growing rapidly and, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, is forecast to reach nearly US$34 billion in Asia Pacific by 2015, highlighting advertisers’ growing confidence in online media.

     

    On the tie-up, Ozone Media founder Kiran Gopinath said, “We are pleased to enter this alliance with MicroAd, and are confident that we will provide great value to advertisers with increased returns on their retargeting campaigns.”

     

    Ozone Media recently launched ‘Adadyn’ – a creative optimisation solution – which allows for a deeper and meaningful engagement with online users by serving dynamic creatives to selectively targeted audience segments.

     

    “We look forward to working closely with Ozone Media, and equip our clients across southeast Asia with real-time advertising capabilities that will help them reach their target audience with relevant and customised messaging,” said MicroAd Vietnam CEO Kosuke Sogo.