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Postr builds telco-branded white label apps that allow people to “hire out” their Android lock screens for advertising in return for mobile data or airtime
Postr Founder and CEO Milan Reinartz speaking at the New Zealand Angel Summit in Napier
New Zealand-based ad-tech startup Postr today announced that it has attracted NZ$3 million (US$2.1 million) led by an undisclosed “group of private investors” in Singapore and previous investors.
Indonesia’s Gunung Sewu Group, K1W1, New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF), individuals from Singapore and New Zealand, and a “senior leadership” from PayPal in the US have also participated in the round.
Postr stated that the investment is meant to fuel their international expansion to Australia and Southeast Asia. While the startup considered New Zealand as a “fantastic testing ground”, large developing markets in Southeast Asia provides opportunities with their Android dominantion and fast-growing mobile penetration.
“We are certainly very focussed on Indonesia and have been spending a lot of time in Jakarta – while I can’t confirm exact details in respect to our partners, I can confirm that Indonesia and Philippines have been key focus markets for us in Southeast Asia,” explained Postr Founder and CEO Milan Reinartz in an e-mail to e27.
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Founded in 2014, Postr build telco-branded white label apps that allow people to “hire out” their Android lock screens for advertising in return for mobile data or airtime from major mobile carriers.
The startup wants to help mobile operators increase monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) through new revenue channels and provide sponsored connectivity to mobile subscribers.
“In the meantime, telco ARPUs are shrinking as people are no longer willing to pay for minutes or SMS, instead using OTT providers like Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger to make calls and send texts,” Reinartz explained.
In Australia, the startup has recently launched Optus Xtra with telco giant Optus and is planning to launch similar telco-branded apps in Southeast Asia.
Postr initially created a B2C app of the same name and then teamed up with New Zealand’s Skinny Mobile to launch its first while-label app Skinny Collect. The startup claimed that collectively these apps have generated 60,000 downloads since their inceptions, converting “around 1.5 per cent of the entire New Zealand population.”
Reinartz wrote that the startup’s development and sales team has grown from five staffs at the beginning of 2016 to 17 fulltime employees today, and the CEO himself had personally relocated to Singapore to support their expansion plans.
In Indonesia, Postr is going to compete with the likes of Cashtree, Popslide, and Excite Points.
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Image Credit: Postr
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