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Gaming platform enriches interactive experiences for leading superapps and brands with casual games made competitive.

Goama Games is riding the wave of digital adoption in Asia and Latin America with a focus on delivering an immersive experience to its players with casual games made competitive. Players are able to compete for real world prizes playing fun-filled casual games where their scores are ranked on a live leaderboard. With already more than 2.5million unique players and growing every month, Goama is set on fuelling its traction further with strategic partnerships across the region.

Gaming remains a key vertical on mobile but many apps struggle to incorporate gamification as part of their service offering. Complex content rights, an ever moving user experience, and a constantly evolving gaming technology are just some of the major challenges needed to overcome to deliver a great gaming experience. 

Goama already has direct relations with 18+ global partners which enable it to offer easy digital payment and communication channels. Wayne Kennedy, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Goama mentioned that the company recently pivoted from just a subscription model to a tournaments model, working with super apps. This move allowed Goama to make its games available at scale within a very short time frame with partnerships with leading digital companies including Rappi in Latin America, Gcash in the Philippines, bKash and Pathao in Bangladesh, Wave Money in Myanmar and many more.

With Goama’s extensive network of partners in Asia and Latin America, brands have the unique opportunity to extend their reach to the  users of these superapps with tailor-made campaign activations, game customization and product placements driving consumers to interact deeper with their brand. Brands such as Snickers and Foodpanda have already benefited from such campaigns, enabling them to engage with segmented audiences and build lasting impressions of +15minutes per user.

Goama’s tremendous growth has recently featured them as one of the 100 featured startups to showcase at CES 2021 by Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA)  .

For more information, you may visit the following websites:

Website: https://goama.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/goamaofficial 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goamaofficial/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHPLZ33WN35Fvos7LU3_q3w

Twitter: https://twitter.com/goamaofficial

About Goama Pte. Ltd.

We are passionate about gaming and dedicated to delivering unmatched casual gaming experiences through our partners.

Our solution turns any digital platform into a gaming powerhouse to boost engagement, reduce the cost of acquisition and increase brand awareness.

Driven by a rock n’ roll team of more than 100 years of combined experience in digital space and gaming, spanning across 10 countries, we are dedicated to delivering fresh games on our competitive platform every week. Our key partners in over 18 countries are driving in excess of 2 million minutes of game time per week.

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The Next Normal: How startups can reset beyond pandemic?

EMK is arranging a virtual summit to help MSMEs to explore the future of business and investment opportunities from venture capitalists and financial institutes.

This will be a joint initiative of EMK Center, Astha Foundation Bangladesh, YY Ventures, and ygap Bangladesh. Focus of the summit will be to support the existing entrepreneurs in their ideation stage. The summit will focus on creating a linkage between experienced entrepreneurs, investors and promising startups facing challenges to continue regular operations due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Our very own Taro Araya, CEO of Goama is invited to join to share his insights regarding the Future of Investment and how getting things done.

Here is the schedule of events

Time Session Speaker Topics to be covered 
July 25, 2020
11.00– 11.45am		Opening session:  Business leading the post pandemic recovery
Erad Kawser, Country Director,ygap Bangladesh
Shazeeb M Khairul Islam,Managing Director,YY Ventures Rashid Saleh, Founder & President,Astha Foundation Bangladesh 		COVID 19- Implications for businesses sustainable business and prospering society: bridging the gapInclusive business creating a win-win situation in the post-pandemic era
July 25, 2020
11.45am- 12.45pm		Pivoting business during and post pandemicSimon Lee,Head of Global Programs,ygap Leadership Team Coronavirus- pivoting your business- be the business COVID 19- Brands and companies that have pivotedPost pandemic- A roadmap for your business to recover
July 25, 2020
3.00- 4:00pm		COVID 19- Managing the business financial health
Erad Kawser, Country Director,ygap BangladeshEnsuring sustainable financing and stable cash reservesImpact of a crisis in the budgeting and business planning processes adapt your business model to reduce costs, both in the short and medium-term
July 25, 2020
4:00– 5:00 PM		Engaging with consumers during COVID-19 and beyond
Wafi Aziz Sattar, Lecturer, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh
Communicate promptly, clearly and transparently Re-engaging customers in the post-pandemic eraCOVID 19: A brand. New. Purpose
July 25, 2020
07:30 – 09:00 pm		Legal considerations: Changing your business model
Nahid Hossain, Managing Associate,Old Bailey Chambers COVID 19 Checklists: Legal and Business Considerations Return to workplace moving from physical to online sales: a key consideration
July 26, 2020
5.30– 6.30pm		Future of investmentNirjhor Rahman, CEO, Bangladesh Angels
Sharawwat Islam, Truvalu.enterprises Limited
Taro Araya CEO of Goama – Getting Things Done		Reinventing the organization for future investments Startups navigating the changing investment climate due to COVID 19 Unprecedented time requiring more than planning 
8.00- 9.00pmInnovation in crisis: why is it more critical than ever?Government official 
Impact Hub 		The case for innovation prioritizing innovation is the key to growth in the post-crisis world the recipe for emerging as an innovation leader
9.00- 9.30pmClosing session: Reimagining the business- 2020 and beyond              Emma Jackson
Asif U Ahmed 
Tina Jabeen Khan 

It’ll be a virtual training. Registration going on!

Registration link: https://forms.gle/yuud9nyCLTJZdN7E9
Registration deadline: July 24, 2020

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Twitter: @goamaofficial
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Rappi wants to be a ‘super Asian app’ in Latin America

  • Inspired by Asian super apps, such as Tencent’s, Rappi’s new entertainment offer seeks to keep you in the app as long as possible.

If you live in China almost everything you want to do in your day to day you can do it through the screen of your smartphone. Buy the supermarket, pay for your services, communicate, request a transport, see a concert, go to the cinema or play something casual, and all this can be done from the same application, or two at the most. In contrast, if you live in Latin America, chances are you have at least 20 different apps on your phone, according to eMarketer; However, some firms like Rappi seek to change this by becoming “super apps”.

Although Rappi came to the market in 2015, with a limited offer for food delivery or supermarket products, it has added other types of services in recent years. It is currently possible to ask a Rappi delivery man to bring you something you forgot where you are, to walk your dog or to buy clothes and pay for services, and from yesterday, now you can also see live concerts, listen to music in streaming and playing video games.

The similarity of Rappi’s offer to what is now offered by the so-called Asian “super apps” such as We Chat, Ali Pay, Line, Grab or Go-Jek from Indonesia is almost a decal, and it is true, the Colombian unicorn seeks to replicate this model in Latin America supported by an offer of entertainment and transaction services, without leaving the same screen.

“Rappi is building something that goes beyond a single category and there is no direct competitor to this, at least in this part of the world, in the end, it is intuitive to have everything in the same app as the super apps in Asia. Instead of having several watered apps, you find a single ecosystem with the capacity to transact and with the last mile that arrives at the door of your house, “said Sebastian Ruales, director of new business at Rappi, who explained that in technology, I had been developing this entertainment integration project for a year.

Ruales explained that the business model of this new offer of services seeks to feed its same ecosystem of transactions and last-mile deliveries and for which it has consolidated a base of 30 million subscribers in 10 countries.

Although Ruales did not share the percentage of commission with which the signature of each of the live events remains, or live purchases made in the now “super app”, the manager explained that the games part currently works under a partnership scheme with Singapore’s casual gaming provider, Goama, so – for now – it is not open for independent developers to use Rappi as a window.

“The company is based in Singapore and works with companies in Southeast Asia and with them we started to stock up on these games and curate the content we started to have and today we have 150 games and growing (…) The sky is the limit, no we are going to stay with a single business model; we will continue learning and as we grow it is not off the table to look for game developers who can develop for us or have access to other types of companies, ”he said.

Goama operates in 17 countries and generates around two million hours of gaming per week in each of its markets, according to public information from the company.

In the vertical of concerts and live events, Ruales shared that the business works in two ways: The first model is based on sponsorships that brands can make for an event, and in which Rappi charges a fee for the use of its platform, Or if the relationship is direct between the artist or speaker and Rappi, the latter charges a percentage and the rest is for the creator of the experience.

As a measure of success, when looking at the first year of operation, Ruales estimates that one way to measure it would be for this new vertical to generate new users in the base business model that is the transaction for deliveries and sales.

“If we manage to tie entertainment and leisure with conversions and commerce, you have something spectacular because we are going to have the last mile and also entertainment. This we are trying to achieve and it is the path that we are going to seek to follow, ”he said.

Do ‘super apps’ work outside of China?

The consultancy Kagan describes that there are two types of super apps, those that are developing services enabled on a base business, usually a payment platform of their own, or those that allow third parties to develop and integrate them, such as WeChat or Baidu.

Kagan’s report warns that the most important thing about these apps is that they do not depend on a third party to process payments- Rappi has had Rappi Pay since 2018- and due to the Asian context, it has been seen that this type of development works well regionally and when connectivity is not prevalent in the country.

“Super apps have worked in delimited regions of Asia, such as China. India has theirs and Southeast Asia theirs, but they all share some cultural things, “the report quoted.

For its part, KPMG suggests that the next decade will be one of growth for this category with increasingly consolidated applications under the same company, and the challenge is how banks will be able to add value to process their transactions.

“The big question is how banks understand how to give value to their services in a world dominated by super apps,” the consultant quoted.

An example of app consolidation in the western world is the increasingly fragmented services of the big tech companies – mostly banned in China – such as the Facebook app family or the various Google services.

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Rappi launches entertainment hub including games, music streaming and live events in Latin America

  • Rappi is launching three new services focused on entertainment within the same app;
  • Rappi Music will work as a subscription streaming service;
  • Rappi Live Events will bet on paid tickets for live concerts, in exchange for greater interaction;
  • With Rappi Games, the platform will offer more than 150 games, with scores and rankings among the players.

Colombian startup Rappi rolled out this Wednesday a range of new entertainment services to keep users on the platform. The new features, Rappi Games, Rappi Live Events and Rappi Music come as Rappi’s latest effort to enhance its superapp strategy.

“With this launch, we make our customers’ lives even easier by providing a platform where consumers can listen to their favorite music and buy their groceries, all in the same app, and without leaving their home,” Sérgio Saraiva, Rappi’s president in Brazil, stated in a press release. “Further covering this entertainment aspect, we make new functions available to all users of our superapp, both customers and partners who want to think of new ways to bring content and leisure to consumers.”

With Rappi Games, the platform will offer more than 150 games, with scores and rankings among the players. During 3 months of tests, Rappi hit 266 thousand unique users and 3.5 million games played weekly, according to the company. Partnered with Goama, one of the industry leaders in providing hyper-casual games.

“We aim to make Rappi’s technology transformative for our customers, always innovating and thinking about what they want. This launching is in line with our strategy to cover different verticals, going beyond the delivery of food, products and services,” said Saraiva.

Rappi Live Events will work as a live streaming platform such as YouTube and Instagram, but the company’s strategy is to bet on paid tickets for live concerts, in exchange for greater interaction, similar to a virtual meet & greet. Rappi expects to hold more than 50 monthly events, including paid and free lives. The service will also offer direct purchases within the app, so digital influencers will be able to sell products featured in the lives directly through the platform.

The music venture, through Rappi Music, will work as a subscription streaming service, allowing users to download, share, and create playlists. The company claimed to have developed its own streaming system, fully created in Latin America. Without disclosing prices, the subscription can be paid online or discounted from the user’s credits in the app.

According to Saraiva, users, which are currently mainly at home, are seeking options that combine entertainment and technology.

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eSports apps aim to hook users into playing the long game

“You don’t build a plane and then start flying. You build a plane while you’re flying it. That’s what an entrepreneur does.”

Taro Araya knows a thing or two about building a plane while flying into uncharted skies. A Japanese national born in Colombia, he worked for Swedish telecom infrastructure company Ericsson in Bangladesh, built an agritech startup in Myanmar, and then founded a “Netflix of games” which has notched up 470,000 subscribers in the emerging markets of Asia and Latin America.

Goama Games, also known as Go|Games, gives subscribers ad-free access to hundreds of top-rated games which would be too expensive to play otherwise. But this is only one part of its business model.

For scaling and monetization, it also has a B2B2C (business-to-business-to-consumer) model. Partners can host games on their apps by embedding Goama. This helps partners raise their engagement with users, while Goama increases its reach and revenue sources. Partnerships also help with payments.

  • Subscription-based gaming and e-sports apps have been trying to gain traction in India, especially amid the lockdown
  • Goama’s value proposition comes from the 2,000 games in its library, which gives subscribers a rotating list of 400 games

Digital payment apps, telecom companies, and on-demand delivery companies are among Goama’s partners. A new focus area this year has been to enable ‘super apps’ to host casual esports tournaments. It has already signed deals with four super apps and five more are in the pipeline.

Goama’s gaming tournaments crossed 480,000 monthly active users in April. This was also the month when covid-19 lockdowns led to such a surge in traffic that its servers went down, says Araya. While that was a “nice problem” to have, it also interrupted Goama’s search for B2B partners in India to scale up in a country with a massive mobile user base. But it’s live in 16 countries currently in various forms.

Taro, whose father is Japanese and mother Colombian, did part of his schooling in the US before returning to Colombia where he set up a car repair shop while still at college. “My hobby was painting cars and this turned into a company with 22 employees.”

He later joined Ericsson after a short stint with an HR consulting firm from which he got fired. “I can take advice but I’m not the best person to take orders,” explains Taro.

For Ericsson, he worked in Colombia, Panama and Jamaica, before moving to Bangladesh as VP of sales and marketing. He left this “cushy ex-pat job” to launch his first startup, Miaki, with a Bangladeshi partner who funded it. It gave free call time to users for consuming ads from brands, which in turn gave telcos an extra revenue track.

After a wave of terrorist attacks in Bangladesh in 2015 and 2016, Araya shifted to Myanmar. There he spun out an agritech startup, Village Link, that provided information, services and products to farmers. But he found it hard to crack monetization and eventually diluted his stake in that too.

Around that time, he roped in Wayne Kennedy as a co-founder. Kennedy had quit his job as director with Myanmar telco Ooredoo. The plan was to acquire a value-added services business in Myanmar, but it didn’t pan out.

Then they took the plunge into subscription gaming in 2017. “We piggybacked on my other organizations which had connections in the region for telcos. That’s how we started doing monetization. And suddenly it took off,” says Araya, who has moved to Singapore now.

Goama raised funding last year from global VC fund SOSV as part of its Taiwan-based Mobile Only Accelerator (MOX). William Bao Bean, the general partner at SOSV, likes Goama’s business model. It’s a smart play where the B2C subscriptions provide validation and keep the engine running while the B2B model is built up.

“You’ve got to find a business model and charging model that makes sense for the market. Just because something works in the US doesn’t mean it’s going to work in Asia, especially for low to medium-income consumers,” says Bao Bean.

Subscription-based gaming and esports apps have been jostling with one another to gain traction in India, especially after the COVID lockdowns. Amazon has just made gaming available at no extra cost to Prime members, albeit with a limited selection. Bengaluru-based Mobile Premier League focuses on esports along with access to about 40 games.

Goama’s value proposition comes from the 2,000 games in its library, which gives subscribers a rotating list of 400 games. It’s also far more affordable than ‘game passes’ from the likes of Microsoft, Apple, and Sony. The monthly price of a PlayStation Plus subscription dropped to Rs. 499 recently, but that’s still steep for a mass-market consumer.

Araya hopes that the association with Bao Bean will help him scale his venture to heights he’s yet to experience as a serial entrepreneur. Coincidentally, after the deal was signed with SOSV, he and Bao Bean discovered they went to the same high school in the US. It’s a small world.

credits: MINT[/vc_column_text][stm_spacer height=”40″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Goama & Rappi partnering together for a cause to fight against COVID-19

Through the City Protector game, which is completely free, users will be able to accumulate points that will later be converted into money. Each point accumulated during a game session will donate to the Take a Child by the Hand Foundation and its Solidarity Menu program.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Read more…” font_container=”tag:h5|text_align:left|color:%2374309b” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.larepublica.co%2Fempresas%2Fpor-medio-de-rappigames-se-podran-hacer-donaciones-para-afectados-con-covid-19-2990577||target:%20_blank|”][stm_spacer height=”40″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Goama’s new game City Protector, launched by Rappi to aid help in times of Covid-19

“We wanted to get the community to participate in a fun way in this donation, through a dynamic game that closely resembles the situation that we are experiencing in various countries. At City Protector we must make an effort to achieve a joint goal that benefits all of us, “says Nicolás Koifman, Vice President for Latin America at Goama Games.

Gamification has been used in a variety of industries, with Goama Games attempting to bring the idea to traditional donations. CEO and co-founder Taro Araya sees City Protector as a way to unite the community towards a shared goal that will ultimately benefit everyone. Gamification encourages people to help through conjoined game mechanics, and as such, he believes that this is an effective method in garnering donations. Through this innovative approach, it allows donors to see their efforts come to life in a meaningful way, giving them an extra incentive for offering their support; proving that small actions can still create big results.

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With Goama’s new game City Protector, Rappi will add resources to support the fight against Covid-19.

The Advergaming has proved a powerful weapon to conquer audiences and now Rappi committed this technique to find ways to support the fight against coronavirus.

Over the years, the video game industry has become a highly profitable space for investors, according to the figures projected by Newzoo and AAStocks presented by Statista, it is estimated that this year the number of players will amount to 2,000 471 million people worldwide and this figure is projected to reach 2.725 billion people by 2021.
[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Read more…” font_container=”tag:h5|text_align:left|color:%2374309b” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.merca20.com%2Fcon-este-videojuego-rappi-sumara-recursos-para-apoyar-la-lucha-contra-el-coronavirus%2F||target:%20_blank|”][stm_spacer height=”40″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Goama Announces Winner of the MPT Gold Coin Event!

mpt-mynamar-goama

9th January 2020, Myanmar – The holidays may be over as Goama wraps up the Gold Coin Event. But things are only going to get more exciting as the winners have been announced! It has been 4 weeks of fun events together with
Myanmar Post and Telecommunication (MPT) and here is the lucky winner of the Gold Coin Promotion.

Congratulations Kyaw Nay Htun for winning the coveted grand prize worth Ks1,000,000. Ko Nay Htun who enjoys 400+ premium casual games, no ads and free of in-app purchases all for only Ks99 daily with MPT.

“My work involves travelling a lot, I enjoy playing Goama, it helps keep occupied during my travels and the games are easy and really fun to play”, says Kyaw.

Goama Pte Ltd first launched its Goama service with MPT on 4th October 2018 featuring top premium action, puzzle, racing, strategy, casual, arcade and sports games, which can be accessed at any time by subscribers, ensuring that fun is
only a press away on Myanmar’s leading and largest mobile network.

Get into the fun and hype today by downloading the GoGames app on the MPT LoTaYa http://gg.lotayamm.com/ or GoGames portal http://mm.gogamesapp.com using your MPT SIM with any Android device.

“We’re really excited to continue bringing the best gaming experience to the people living in Myanmar. Users will not only be able to enjoy playing our top-quality games but also compete for real cash prizes in the near future”, shares Mr
Wayne Kennedy, CPO of Goama Pte Ltd.

For more information on Goama future events and updates, you may visit the following websites:

Website: https://goama.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/goama

About MPT
With over 20 million users, MPT is the first and leading telecommunications company in Myanmar, providing both fixed and mobile telecommunication services to people and enterprises of Myanmar. For over 130 years, the operator has been championing the development of the telecommunications industry in
Myanmar. Today, it operates a nationwide network infrastructure, with the widest mobile network coverage of 96% throughout Myanmar. Through its wide network of retail outlets and points of sale, MPT aims to make telecommunications services more accessible nationwide.

Together with its workforce of over 8,000 employees and KDDI Summit Global Myanmar (KSGM) all of whom are intensively supporting MPT’s operation, MPT is committed to continually driving the development of the telecommunications sector, and moving Myanmar forward.

MPT was ranked as the most loved Brand in Myanmar amongst 42 key brands on June 30, 2016, according to a brand research in Myanmar by Millward Brown, a British multinational market research firm.
For more information visit: https://www.mpt.com.mm/mm/[/vc_column_text][stm_spacer height=”40″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Cambodia runs TOP100 APAC roadshow in anticipation of Echelon Asia Summit 2018 in Singapore

Goama, a mobile gaming platform, came out on top yesterday at the Cambodian edition of Echelon TOP100 APAC, which was held at boutique office building Raintree.

The startup, which describes itself as the Netflix of games, went up against 20 other contestants, winning in the ‘judge’s choice’ category and earning the right to represent the country in the Echelon Asia Summit 2018, which will be taking place in Singapore in June.

“I am thrilled to be voted as the judge’s choice!” said Taro Araya, Goama’s CEO. “Getting the chance to pitch our business ideas to investors internationally will definitely broaden our networks overseas and help us gain financial support and recognition.”

The Echelon TOP100 programme seeks out the best early-stage tech startups in Asia and aims to enhance their network and funding opportunities. The Cambodian edition was organised with the support of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and mobile operator Smart Axiata. The event is sponsored by tech media platform e27.

Mohan Belani, e27’s CEO and co-founder, said Goama represents the immense potential that Cambodia has in the startup scene.

“Besides being part of the TOP100 APAC programme, I am sure the winners will attract interest from many investors during Echelon,” he said.

Four other startups receive awards in different categories. Spare, a service to simplify renting property, was named ‘fan favorite’ based on online votes, while BookMeBus, CamboTicket and Demine Robotics also received awards.

All of them earned access to exclusive workshops and networking events across Asia-Pacific, as well as an invitation to participate at this year’s Echelon Asia Summit.

Smart Axiata CEO Thomas Hundt said, “Smart is honored to partner with e27 on this program that builds on the many initiatives that we have carried out to develop the kingdom’s vibrant local startup ecosystem.”

“Programmes such as this, with opportunities for international exposure, will certainly provide impetus to move to the next level,” Mr Hundt said.

credits: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/483717/goama-to-represent-cambodia-in-regional-event/[/vc_column_text][stm_spacer height=”40″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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