Southeast Asia’s OTT TV startup, iflix, has completed a $30 million round of funding led by an investment firm, the Catcha Group and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), the largest integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines. The funds raised will be used to continue the rollout the iflix service across the Southeast Asia region, to acquire rights to new content, to produce original programming and for the company's marketing.
PLDT said that it looks forward to working with iflix to grow its business and introduce new media services that will further fuel the demand for broadband and mobile access in the Philippines and across Southeast Asia. Launching in key Southeast Asian markets, including Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam throughout 2015, iflix said that it will offer consumers more than 10,000 hours of top U.S., Asian regional, and local TV shows and movies. Each subscription will allow a user to access the service on five devices, as well as download content to their mobile, tablet, computer, or television set, for viewing anywhere, anytime.
iFlix which targets to launch its service this quarter in Malaysia and Philippines, also aims to produce its own original programming. Although the Asia Pacific OTT TV market is still at its nascent stage, especially in the Southeast Asia region, iflix will be competing with SingTel's HOOQ that went live in the Philippines in February this year and is expected to take on the competition posed by the imminent entry of NetFlix to the region, after the OTT giant's recent debut in Australia and New Zealand.
iflix Chairman, Patrick Grove
We are excited to join forces with such an outstanding regional partner, who shares our vision. The new funds will allow us to execute on our plan to deliver thousands of hours of entertainment for a low monthly price to the 600 million consumers in the region. There is a seismic shift taking place in the global entertainment landscape. We believe iflix is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this incredible opportunity.
