Japanese Affiliate Marketing Co Adways Buys 13.8% In Indian Network vCommission

Adways Inc, an affiliate marketing firm listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange has acquired 13.8% in Indian Internet marketing company VC Internet Media, which operates an affiliate advertising network vCommission. Adways has the option of gradually increasing its stake to 66% in three phases, by the end of the financial year, VC Internet Media co-founder Parul Mehta informs MediaNama. She declined to disclose the acquisition price.

“Adways will be involved in day-to-day operations, and bring their own expertise, experience and technology to the venture, while we’ll bring our experience in India and existing client relationships,” Mehta said. Adways has a presence in 10 markets – China, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, US and Japan, and claims to be number one in China and Japan. This deal marks its entry into the Indian market. Mehta added that the market is shifting towards performance marketing

VC Internet Media was formed in 2007 by Tarang Bhargava and Parul Mehta, and vCommission was launched in 2008. It focused on the US and UK markets till 2010, and then began focusing on the Indian market. Mehta says that the company has a registered publisher base of 11,000 affiliates, of which around 30 percent are international. Clients the company has served include almost all e-commerce companies, Airtel, HDFC, ICICI, Citibank. Myntra, Pepperfry, YepMe, Yahoo Business Services, and Internationally, MindSpark, Nielsen and Toluna, among others.

Last year, affiliate marketing firm ShooGloo Affiliate Marketing was rebranded as TooTrac, and DGM India was acquired by Tyroo & Anurag Gupta for Rs 3.35 Crore. In 2011, Online Media Group (OMG) had announced its operations in India and had appointed Bharat Malik as Country Manager