M17 Group (“M17”), Asia’s leading live technology and entertainment content company, recently announced the launch of “HandsUP” service, a B2B live and social commerce SaaS product, marking its official foray into thespace. This move comes after M17’s meteoric rise to become the biggest live technology and entertainment content player in Developed Asia within two years. Leveraging the company’s proven live stream technology experience, the service aimsto simplify the process of social discovery / selling live for sellers, and the social / live shopping experience for buyers.

Bringing the first-ever live shopping and social commerce service to the table

Setting its sights to advance the live and social commerce space, HandsUp artfully integrates live streaming, social communities and e-commerce, as well as the star power of influencers, online personalities and opinion leaders, to unlock the immense market potential of live and social commerce. M17 invested eight months in research and development to refine its innovative technical capabilities and optimize its product user experience before the official launch.

The services harnesses live content and interactivity to create an all-in-one platform which aggregates ‘+1’ comments from various social media platforms to complete orders. With just one click, sellers can sell live through multiple social platforms, facilitate order-taking across social platforms in real time and automate transactions based on comments captured. Live stream content is a perishable item, so the ability to stream and sell simultaneously across multiple social platforms greatly increases the efficiency of time spent for sellers. In addition, the product eliminates intensive man-hours spent compiling orders manually, and minimizes errors, which greatly simplifies the shopping flow. For buyers, all it takes is a “+1” in the comments to place an order for their desired item.

M17, with its roots in live stream entertainment, has over the years developed an in house talent and artiste management system that manages over 15,000 live talents and influencers across Asia. These talents and their social communities are now connected with HandsUP sellers, allowing sellers an easy- in into selling through these communities.

Joseph Phua, co-founder and CEO of M17 Entertainment, said: “The core technology, mechanisms and product innovations in HandsUP are the creations of the dynamic “Migo” company, which M17 acquired in 2H2018 and whose team shares our mission to enable global connections through live technology and entertainment. We knew quickly that our combination would result in amazing results, as can be seen through the HandsUP product. We look forward to shaking up the live and socialcommerce landscape in Asia. In addition, we also hope to provide well-rounded development for our 15,000 live talents and influencers. Ultimately, we want to empower all aspiring entrepreneurial individuals to realize their dreams, with M17’s suite oflive technology and entertainment products.”

Robust growth, with projected “double 10 billion NTD” (approx. USD 323 million) targets

Joseph Phua commented that: “M17 has achieved significant growth across all business units and has turned profitable company wide, with 70% YoY growth. The company is on track to achieve two milestones: Projected annual revenues of TWD 10billion (approx. USD 323 million), and projected annual live and social commerce GMV of TWD 10 billion (approx. USD 323 million).”

Established in 2017 with a vision to usher in a new age of live streaming, M17 Entertainment currently has offices in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the U.S. and employs close to 600 people worldwide. With plans to deepen its rots globally with an existing user base of 40 million and 15,000 content creators and influencers, M17 seeks to pave the way for the next generation of live and social commerce.