Myanmar-focused social media platform MySQUAR Limited’s (LON:MYSQ) foray into online gaming seems to be paying off, while its moves into internet phones and mobile marketplace apps should also lend it strength in the future.
The AIM-listed group has now made it easier for Telenor Myanmar customers to purchase apps and make in-game purchases when using its platform, with the cost added to their monthly bill.
MySQUAR said revenue is anticipated to increase with this integration and more convenient payment option.
READ: MySQUAR hooks up with Telenor …
Telenor Myanmar, owned by the leading Norwegian telecommunications provider, has a market share of around 37% in Myanmar.
Commenting on the deal, Eric Schaer, chief executive officer of MySQUAR, said: “The company continues to seek new partnerships and strategies to diversify and build its user base and monetisation channels.”
Busy release schedule …
The easier game purchase move comes after a busy run of product releases for the social media and entertainment group which soft launched its new Lucky Wingabar gaming platform on January 23.
The platform’s initial offering had five games included when users downloaded the app, with more games to be added periodically.
The Lucky Wingabar launch followed closely on the heels of that of the ChakraNinja video game app - based on the popular Japanese comic character Naruto - and its internet-based calling app, CallHome, both at the end of December.
At the time, Schaer said: “Our new CallHome app has the potential to become a major revenue earner. The service can dramatically reduce the cost of calls compared with traditional call methods.”
READ: MySQUAR’s busy run continues …
Last month the mobile app developer also announced a new role-playing game called MyCombo, which allows users to create unique characters, in standard role-playing tradition.
It is hoped the new games could replicate the success of MyFish which went ‘viral’, having attracted more than 1.5mln users in the five weeks after its launch in May 2016, and was generating daily revenues of over US£2,000 by mid-September last year.
A subsequent game, Hawk Hero, released on September 12 last year also achieved “very encouraging results”, generating average daily revenue of US$600 ten days after release.
‘Fremium’ model …
All MySQUAR’s apps work on the “freemium” model, which is to say that it will be perfectly playable as a free game, but if users want to get their hands on the real cool stuff, they can opt to pay for extras.
The casual gaming market in Myanmar is estimated to have millions of players, with MySQUAR expecting revenue generated from its new platform to be “very significant” as a result.
Earlier in January, MySQUAR had revealed that the number of registered users across its platforms had exceeded 7.5mln.
READ: MySQUAR trumps estimates …
That figure meant the app developer had grown its user base by more than 25% since last October, when it told investors that it had around 6 mln users on board which was a whopping 660% more users than it had when it listed on AIM in July 2015 and significantly trumped the 5 mln it had expected by the end of 2016.
Schaer said in October that the group expected to be able to exploit the anticipated surge in advertising interest in Myanmar’s population from American multi-national companies following the withdrawal of trade sanctions on the country.
In December, MySQUAR confirmed it had achieved its objectives for the 2016 financial year, generating revenue for the twelve months ended June 30 of US$795,191, having had 2.9 mln registered users at the end of that period.
Expenses for the full-year amounted to US$3.24mln, and the loss for the period was US$2.4mln.
Cash raised …
The Myanmar-focused group also revealed it had raised US$2mln through the issue of convertible loan notes in December to investment group Sandabel Capital, adding to an earlier £1mln subscription of notes by the same firm.
MySQUAR said the cash proceeds would be used for working capital purposes and to help accelerate the development of new games and apps.
Last month the firm said it had issued just over 20mln new shares to Sandabel following the conversion of some US$350,000 of those loan notes.
The conversion price was around 1.53p per share, which was a 12.5% discount to the MySQUAR share price on January 26. The stock is currently holding around that level at 1.525p.
A Sandabel spokesperson said at the time: “We have been impressed with the recent deployment of capital by the company in to new applications and the strength of their gaming offering.”
As part of the earlier loan note subscription, MySQUAR raised US$150,000 in November with the issue of 3.6 mln new shares to Sandabel at 0.0372p each.
Broker Beaufort Securities reiterated a ‘speculative buy’ rating on MySQUAR shares with a 21p price target in a note following the launch of MyCombo in February, saying the stock appeared “quite dramatically undervalued.”
Gaming aside …
Aside from its gaming and internet phone apps, MySQUAR also soft launched a mobile marketplace app, Fastsell at the start of December.
READ: Mobile marketplace app launched …
The firm’s boss said: “The introduction of Fastsell is not just an innovation for MySQUAR but for all of Myanmar, as access to goods nationwide and the means to make transactions quickly and simply will become a reality.
“This will be an important part of Myanmar's commercial revolution,” he added.
The AIM-listed firm also revealed in November that it would be working on payment apps development work for Singapore-based group fastacash for 24 months in return for development fees of around US$300,000.
MySQUAR started back in 2013, having identified the opportunity to launch a social media platform in the rapidly emerging market of Myanmar, formerly Burma.
With a population of around 56 mln people, and roughly 13 mln of those under the age of 24, it would seem that there’s still a significant portion of the market that remains untapped by MySQUAR.