Ayudante, a Japan-based digital marketing and digital measurement consulting agency, has announced its acquisition of Sparkline, a Singapore-based digital marketing company.

Ayudante said in a statement on Wednesday that with this acquisition, Sparkline will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ayudante.

The acquisition of Sparkline by Ayudante underscores the increasing interest of multinational companies in Southeast Asia’s dynamic tech ecosystems.

With the Philippines being a critical market in this region, Sparkline plans for businesses there to eventually be able to access its certified services of Google Marketing Platform (GMP).

This is in line with the growing demand for data analytics and digital marketing solutions in the Philippines, driven by the government’s emphasis on digital transformation and the adoption of advanced technologies across various sectors.

Besides the GMP business, the collaboration will also focus on search engine optimization (SEO) across multiple languages and digital marketing.

The companies’ developers will work together to enhance data development, automation related to tags, and digital marketing services in the era of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

This strategic move is timely for the Southeast Asia region, where businesses are increasingly relying on sophisticated data analytics and automation to stay competitive, said the statement.

This acquisition also marks a significant regional milestone, showcasing a successful example of a regional acquisition by a Japanese company and bolstering confidence in the ability of regional companies to exit to international buyers.

Sparkline, one of the first GMP Certified Partners and Resellers in Asia, has established a reputation for its industry-leading expertise in data utilization consulting.

Ayudante, the first Japanese GMP Certified Partner and Reseller, has been expanding its international team to support the global business expansion of its Japanese clients.

Following the acquisition, Naohiro Yamaura, Chief Operating Officer of Ayudante, will assume the position of Chairman of the Board at Sparkline under the new management structure.

He is one of the most successful figures in the GMP business in Japan, having authored eight books and leading the industry.

Moving forward, Yamaura will collaborate with Chief Executive Officer Aleetza Senn, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Sparkline, to accelerate Sparkline’s growth in the Southeast Asia market.

The names of the respective companies will not change, and the conditions of the acquisition have not been publicly disclosed.

“I am pleased to be partnered with Sparkline, which has the longest history in our business field in Singapore,

“Together, we aim to become the top GMP reseller in the Asia Pacific region,” Hiroshi Yasukawa, Chief Executive Officer of Ayudante.

Senn said Sparkline has always been about providing bespoke and agnostic analytics services to businesses using digital data for customer and marketing growth.

“This alignment with Ayudante is really exciting and helps us scale that vision to many more businesses in the region, especially at a time when the industry is being disrupted due to privacy regulations and change,” she added.

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