 | |
| Company type | Talent agency |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2011, Singapore |
| Founder | Althea Lim, Vincent Ha |
| Headquarters | Singapore |
Area served | Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, China, and USA. |
Number of employees | 300 [1] (2019 [1] ) |
| Website | https://gushcloud.com |
Gushcloud International is a global influencer, entertainment, and talent acquisition company. It is headquartered in Singapore and began in 2011. [2] [3]
Althea Lim and Vincent Ha are the co-founders of Gushcloud International, [4] which has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, and the US, and 300+ employees. [5] [6] Gushcloud International works with influencers, content creators, and celebrities in Asia. The establishment has five working units: marketing, talent, investment, entertainment, and technology. [1]
In 2015, Yello Digital Marketing Global (YDMG), based in South Korea, gained control of the company by buying 62% of its shares for USD 7.5 million [7] [8] but in November 2018, the co-founders bought back the 62% shareholding from investor YDMG for USD 8.2 million. [5] [9] Between 2015 - 2018, it grew from three to nine markets. [7]
Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, became the President in September 2019. [10] [1]
In 2017, the company raised USD 3 million from South Korea’s YG Group, [11] [12] a record label and media company, and an unspecified amount from Japan's D2C Inc, which is a joint venture between NTT Docomo, Dentsu Inc, and NTT Advertising, Inc. [3] In 2018, Gushcloud entered into a joint venture with YAN Digital, the digital arm of YAN Media Group [13] and Hahm Shout, a Korean public relations firm. [14]
In May 2018, the company invested in Summer Beauty House, a social commerce venture. [15] [16] In February 2019, Gushcloud International acquired the marketing agency, DSTNCT [4] and launched Ribbit, a micro influencer network, in April 2019. [17] [18] In February 2020, it acquired MODA Creative. [19] [20] In September 2019, it raised USD 11 million from Korea Investment Partners, Golden Equator Ventures, and Kejora Ventures. [21] [22]
In 2014, a blogger from Singapore, Xiaxue, alleged that Gushcloud had unethical practices, [23] to which Gushcloud issued a point-by-point rebuttal. [24] In 2015, Xiaxue once again alleged that Gushcloud had paid celebrity bloggers to write negatively against the rivals of Singtel, which Singtel and Gushcloud initially denied but later apologised for. [25] [26] [27]