Friendster so bullish on the Philippines
Rene Martel
Manila Times
FOR millions of Filipino netizens, having a Friendster account and meeting, greeting and socializing on it with relatives and friends every day is a way of life.
In fact, such is the enormous popularity of this social network in the Philippines that it has propelled it to the undisputed No. 1 spot in Asia, and the 9th largest website in the world based on traffic.
Asia is, indeed, is an important major hub for Friendster, so much so that the company has poached its new Chief Executive Officer Richard Kimber from its competitor Google where he was previously regional managing director for South Asia Operations.
This news was conveyed personally via telephone from its San Francisco base to select business columnists in Manila by Kimber himself who reiterated the “huge importance of the market in the Philippines”—a country he said he has visited often and come to love.
He pointed out that in his new post he would lead Friendster’s global business, and guide operations in Asia and the US.
As Google’s pointman in Asia Kimber successfully led business operations and strategic partnerships across the region. Prior to Google, Kimber was the CEO for FirstDirect Bank in the UK, a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings, the world’s largest banking group.
Speaking to the Manila Times, Kimber said: “Friendster is growing at an enormous rate in Asia Pacific and is clearly leading the competition. I
believe this is partly because the Internet is transforming the lives of everyone, and it will probably become one of the greatest liberators of our time.
“Utilizing the Internet to connect to your friends is one of its greatest benefits, and is changing the way relationships work globally. And nowhere is this exhibited better than in the Philippines.”
“I look forward to growing our business further as we continue our global growth and strong focus on Asia.”
Kimber also disclosed that Friendster has just raised $20 million in additional financing led by new investor IDG Ventures, a global network of venture capital funds.
He said the new funding would enable Friendster to extend its leadership position in the Philippines and other parts of the Asia Pacific region, and continue to grow and monetize its global user base.
Kimber added: “IDG Ventures is a strong addition to Friendster’s investor portfolio, with more than 220 companies built over the last 15 years”.
The IDG Ventures network is comprised of six independent partnerships managing funds in North America and Asia, including the Philippines. In addition to IDG Ventures, all current institutional investors made additional investments as part of this round of funding—including established Wall Street names like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Founders Fund.
“With the new funding and the addition of Richard who has a deep understanding of the Asia Pacific region and a notable track record of managing international operations, Friendster will continue to expand its worldwide footprint and take advantage of its leadership position in Asia Pacific,” said Russ Siegelman, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and chairman of the board of Friendster.
He added: “The Asia Pacific region is an important and fast-growing region where 38 percent of the world’s Internet users are located. To continue to grow and strengthen this position, Friendster plans to leverage the new funding to focus on user growth, even greater user engagement and
monetization, all through new features, new offerings, localization and marketing.”
In the last two years, Friendster has achieved an enviable track record of success in terms of both scale and triple-digit annual growth. Globally, Fit now ranks in the Top 50 in the world versus all web properties in four key metrics: 9th in total traffic (22.1 billion page views), 9th in total time spent (8.0 billion minutes), 9th in user engagement (215 minutes per visitor per month), and 47th in monthly unique visitors (37.1 million).
With over 55 million registered users and 33 million monthly unique visitors from Asia, Friendster is almost twice the size of any other social network.
And the Philippines can proudly take a bow for making a key contribution to that impressive corporate track record.
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