Tyroo Technologies charts aggressive expansion strategy across APAC, emerging markets

The company has announced multiple strategic moves including key executive appointments and global partnerships.

Singapore-based Tyroo Technologies, an ad tech platform in the Asia-Pacific region, is setting new benchmarks as it announces a series of strategic moves aimed at expansion across both the Asia-Pacific region and emerging markets. Spearheaded by CEO Siddharth Puri, these strategies underscore Tyroo's intent to become a dominant player in the evolving ad tech landscape.

Puri emphasises the need for unlocking all possible opportunities, particularly focusing on the transfer of wealth and power catalysed by globalisation.

"To go out and become meaningful in terms of dollar revenue contribution, you have to solve for the larger markets. What are those larger markets? They are North Asia, China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India," Puri told Asian Business Review. 

In alignment with this vision, one of Tyroo's significant early achievements was bringing Nitesh Gupta on board as the new Chief Financial Officer. "His extensive experience and proven track record in finance leadership will be invaluable as we solidify our position in the APAC market.

Strategic expansion
"As part of our aggressive expansion strategy, we will continue our search for experienced entrepreneurs in these markets, recognising the invaluable contributions they bring to the table," Puri said.

"We want to ensure that Tyroo is at least present across 20 countries, out of the 50, which are there in Asia, and building out, a solid infrastructure from a foundation standpoint—both from technology readiness and physical footprint—so that we are able to serve brands across all these markets," Puri said.

According to Puri, a significant insight gained from his 20 years of experience in Asian markets is that companies often err by neglecting to appreciate and respect the specialised knowledge inherent to each local market.

Working with companies ranging from $10b in media revenue to those generating an additional half-billion, Tyroo is resolute in adapting its existing services to meet the distinct needs of local brands and agencies. Puri emphasised the company's mission to enlighten these entities about the power of sophisticated targeting capabilities, bespoke advertising solutions, and optimised media investments.

In a recent move, Tyroo has partnered with Pinterest to enable advertisers in countries that Pinterest is not currently serving to place ads on Pinterest's platform globally. This strategic collaboration is a win-win for both parties. It not only allows Tyroo to offer new avenues for advertising but also enables Pinterest to monetize its platform in new markets indirectly.

He also outlined two critical criteria for selecting partnerships: scalability and compatibility with Tyroo's existing technology and data infrastructure.

Tech innovations
Tyroo is strategically investing in technological advancements, focusing on advanced targeting, customised advertising solutions, and optimised media investments.

One example of their initiatives includes their work to integrate Tyroo's apps into the Shopify environment. 

"We're trying to bring Tyroo's own apps into the Shopify environment. So if you're a brand, which is then using the Shopify ecosystem, from a platform standpoint, can we go out and activate all the innovation, whatever we are doing from a measurement and an activation standpoint, within the Shopify environment?" Puri explained.

Tackling the emergence of "human media," such as WhatsApp sellers in Indonesia or Telegram groups in Bangladesh and Cambodia, presents a unique and complex set of challenges in the ad tech landscape. Therefore, Tyroo is building physical infrastructure in various markets and hiring local digital experts who understand the cultural nuances and environment.

Puri expressed that Tyroo faces dual challenges: First, ensuring that high-grade, quality products and technologies are available; and second, scaling solutions to accommodate smaller digital media businesses, particularly those generating under $100m in revenue. He stressed the importance of finding a balance between quality and scale, which is crucial for the company's global expansion.

"Every day, I get to know about a very different side of technology innovation, which is happening, which we do not solve if we do not tackle then businesses from Asia will not be able to get that profitable growth."

A future-ready vision
Puri has a vision for Tyroo that transcends merely expanding across geographies and product lines. He aspires for Tyroo to be the definitive partner for organisations aiming for scalability through high-quality advertising and technological innovations. 

"What I get excited about are the two or three new tailwinds, which are happening across Asia, the first being that how can we ensure that the growth of connected TV happening with more and more households becoming smart TV households," he revealed.

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Leadership Principles
Puri believes that effective leadership requires a forward-looking perspective. Leaders should visualise future challenges that could inhibit customers and work to eliminate those barriers. By doing this, aligning team efforts towards problem-solving becomes much easier.

"And if you're able to captivate those consumers in those environments, and able to contextually figure out a way to convert them into customers, it will be much more efficient and profitable for you to build a digital business."

"If you're able to come from the future to the present, instead of going from present to the future. And if you're able to make your team visualise that problem statement, I think the alignment becomes much, much easier."

His parting wisdom for businesses emphasises the need for a broader advertising focus. Puri notes that consumers spend only about 20% of their time on top media destinations where most marketers focus their advertising dollars. The rest of the time, consumers are scattered across various platforms and contexts. Capturing attention in these overlooked environments can be both efficient and profitable, urging businesses to think outside conventional ad spaces.

With a strategy that combines regional expansion, partnerships with global giants, and a deep focus on technology-led solutions, Tyroo is certainly a company to watch in the ever-competitive ad tech sector. One example of their strategic initiatives includes their work to integrate Tyroo's apps into the Shopify environment.

"Its recent moves show that it's not just playing the game but changing how the game is played, one strategic move at a time. Puri is particularly interested in addressing the needs of emerging businesses that may not yet have a substantial digital presence.

"How do we solve for the new set of businesses which are coming online, like I said, which do not have the digital presence, which does not have their own brand.com, which are not there on the Apple or the traditional Google Play Store? So from a technology innovation standpoint, how do we solve their frictions of adopting a lot more media?" he said.