Anthem Asia invests in digital agency Revo Tech

09 January 2016
Anthem Asia invests in digital agency Revo Tech
Revo Tech CEO Myo Myint Kyaw and Genevieve Heng, co-founder and director of Anthem Asia. Photo: Anthem Asia

Anthem Asia, an independent investment and advisory group building sustainable businesses in Myanmar, has invested in Revo Tech, a leading Yangon-based creative digital agency. 
According to an Anthem Asia press release on January 8, Revo Tech delivers high quality websites and social media management services to corporate clients in Myanmar and overseas. It also develops mobile applications.
Revo Tech is on the rise. The firm has built a portfolio of high-profile names including Nissan, the London School of Economics, the World Bank and Qatari-backed mobile phone operator Ooredoo. Local clients include one of Myanmar’s fastest growing banks, KBZ Bank, and leading supermarket retailer Citymart.
Anthem Asia is investing a six-figure US dollar sum in Phew Tech Pte Ltd., Revo Tech’s Singapore-registered parent company. It will become the largest minority shareholder. Revo Tech was established in September 2012 by entrepreneur Myo Myint Kyaw and has been featured in the New York Times, Tech Crunch and Tech in Asia.
“We are delighted to back Myo and his team and their ambitious plans for both the digital agency services business and the company’s app suite,” said Genevieve Heng, co-founder and director of Anthem Asia.
“Our ambition is to become the country’s leading digital agency by consistently providing innovative and reliable digital solutions to clients in Myanmar and further afield,” said Myo Myint Kyaw, founder and chief executive officer of Revo Tech.
“With Anthem Asia as a partner, we will be able to accelerate our growth, enabling us to take service more clients and to offer a greater range of products and services,” Myo Myint Kyaw added.
Revo Tech is well positioned to take advantage of the need an attractive and interactive and digital presence in the fast-growing Myanmar economy. The liberalization of the telecommunications sector has unleashed a huge demand for mobile and Internet access. There are an estimated 17 million mobile users, an estimated tenfold increase since 2010. The nation’s mobile network is being rolled out at breakneck speed. The network is due to cover 80 percent of the population by spring 2016, up from 10 percent in early 2015. There were more than 7 million Internet users as of late 2015.
“Revo Tech gives companies the online presence they need that will help guide the development of Myanmar as it becomes a significant Southeast Asian market in the coming years,” said Ms Heng.
Revo Tech currently employs about 40 people. The firm offers website-based or mobile app-based solutions, often with an e-commerce element, as well as management of clients’ social media channels such as Facebook, Line and BeeTalk.
Revo Tech’s plans include a “web factory” specifically designed for SMEs requiring a more basic digital presence.
It has developed an educational app series called “Phew” designed to transfer the curriculum from paper to digital. The first modules have has interactive learning alphabets and numbers for the pre-school age group.
Revo Tech is one of a number of investments Anthem Asia has made in the past two years. Last year, the firm invested in mobile data collection platform, Xavey, which converts paper-based research forms into digital applications, and the newly-opened MOVE, an international standard fitness and wellness facility situated in downtown Yangon, close to the Sule Pagoda.
Other investments include two marketing communications businesses, Blink Agency and Zagar Communications, Hintha Business Centres and Thahara, the latter a marketing and management platform offering access to small, unique properties across Myanmar.
Anthem Asia was co-founded by Genevieve Heng and Josephine Price, both of whom have extensive investment and private equity experience growing companies in emerging Asian markets. Other team members have significant investment and operational experience in Asia’s emerging markets.