by Jan Michael Carpo, Reporter
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has played a crucial role in the rapid growth of Kumu, a social entertainment platform connecting Filipinos worldwide.
During a recent media briefing, Roland Ros, the founder and CEO of Kumu, emphasized the importance of AWS’s support in scaling the platform to meet the needs of its global audience. “AWS has provided us with the scalability and reliability we need to connect Filipinos across the globe. Their support has been invaluable, from early-stage funding through AWS Activate to ongoing optimization and innovation,” he shared.
According to Ros, Kumu’s growth has been driven by its ability to engage a large market of over 100 million Gen Z and millennial Filipinos, both in the Philippines and abroad, who actively contribute to the global Filipino economy.
“When you consider the global Filipino economy, with millions of people sending resources back to the Philippines, then you’re looking at a market of over 100 million Gen Z and millennial Filipinos. Kumu has become a positive space in a world where social media can often be toxic. I’m proud to say we now have about 15 million users on the platform,” he added.
Roland Ros, the founder and CEO of KUMU
Since its inception, Kumu has experienced rapid growth, attracting users who engage with content that celebrates Filipino identity and community. This growth is fueled by the platform’s ability to tap into the global Filipino economy, which includes millions of Filipinos abroad who provide support and resources back home.
For her part, Priya Lakshmi, Head of Startup, ASEAN, at AWS, echoed Ros’s sentiments, highlighting how cloud technology has been integral to Kumu’s success. “Kumu is a shining example of how startups can leverage cloud technology to achieve remarkable success. We’re proud to partner with Roland and his team as they continue to innovate and expand,” she said.
Priya adds that AWS’s unique position as a cloud provider, with deep experience in supporting startups, has been a significant advantage for entrepreneurs like Ros.
“As Amazon itself started as a small venture, we’re committed to empowering entrepreneurs by providing the tools and resources they need to scale their businesses. Just as we’ve democratized the cloud for innovators, we continue to level the playing field, ensuring that startup founders can pursue their ideas and build innovative solutions in the cloud,” Priya added.
Priya Lakshmi, Head of Startup, ASEAN, at AWS
According to Priya, AWS is uniquely positioned to help startup founders get their ideas off the ground. “AWS has helped more startups succeed than any other cloud provider. I think it’s common knowledge that Amazon was once a startup, and AWS was a startup within a startup.”
“Given this, we’re committed to empowering entrepreneurs like Roland by providing the tools and resources they need to scale their businesses. Just as we’ve democratized the cloud for innovators, we continue to level the playing field, ensuring that startup founders can pursue their ideas and build innovative solutions in the cloud,” she added.
Last June, AWS announced a substantial commitment of US$230 million to accelerate the development of Gen AI startups and applications around the world, including those in the Philippines.
Kumu’s journey to global dominance
Kumu’s mission is to connect and empower Filipino voices, serving as a vital bridge for the global Filipino diaspora. By fostering a platform where Filipinos can share their stories, talents, and culture, Kumu has not only built a sustainable business but also cultivated a community-driven space that prioritizes positive social interactions.
Ros shares that navigating the competitive social media landscape has presented great challenges and opportunities for Kumu. “While the platform’s focus on Filipino culture gives it a distinct advantage, it also had to continuously innovate to maintain relevance and appeal, especially among younger, tech-savvy users,” he said.
Opportunities for the social platform include expanding its reach beyond traditional social networking by integrating more interactive and immersive experiences like AI-driven content creation, games, and virtual events.
By leveraging AWS’s scalable infrastructure and cloud services, Ros said that Kumu was able to explore new frontiers in social media, such as enhanced monetization strategies and improved user experience, through advanced technologies like machine learning and generative AI.
AWS’s role in empowering startups
AWS has been pivotal in supporting startups from idea to exit, offering powerful cloud services that democratize innovation. The AWS Activate program provides qualified startups with benefits such as credits, technical and business support, and training. It is designed to help startups experiment and innovate responsibly, reducing costs and offering extensive support throughout their journey.
Beyond credits, AWS Activate offers access to comprehensive self-service business and technical content covering a myriad of purposeful themes, from fundraising and legal guidance to technical documentation on solutions architecture and information on the latest technologies, such as generative AI.
KUMU and AWS partnership
AWS has been crucial in helping Kumu scale up, particularly during rapid growth phases like the Covid-19 pandemic. AWS’s cloud services allowed Kumu to manage these scaling challenges, optimizing costs and maintaining app stability, which is essential for KUMU’s live streaming and interactive features.
Kumu utilizes AWS services like Redis to ensure timely content delivery and Amazon SageMaker to explore AI-driven features. These services help KUMU enhance the user experience by supporting high-quality streaming, video chat, and interactive features crucial for engaging their global Filipino audience.
AWS’s support has been instrumental in creating a seamless user experience, enabling Kumu to offer high-quality, real-time interactions that are vital for their community of overseas Filipinos. This has helped Kumu build a robust platform that connects users across 50 countries.
Future Outlook
Kumu aims to expand its entertainment options, including more AI-powered content and gaming experiences. The focus is on leveraging AI to enhance content creation and customer service, particularly for high-paying VIP users as well as for exploring automation to improve user engagement.
AWS remains committed to supporting startups in ASEAN through continuous program updates and a strong regional presence. They offer extensive resources and partnership opportunities, emphasizing accessibility and relevance for startups at all stages.
The potential of generative AI and other emerging technologies for startups is significant. AWS sees generative AI as a transformative force, driving innovation and growth. They are investing heavily in this area, including a $230 million commitment to support startups building generative AI applications. AWS is focused on democratizing AI technologies, making them accessible for startups to experiment responsibly and scale effectively.
As Kumu continues to expand and innovate, AWS will remain a key partner in enabling future growth and success – not just for KUMU but for other startups in the Philippines and beyond.
About AWS
Since 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any workload, and it now has more than 240 fully featured services for computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, media, and application development, deployment, and management from 108 Availability Zones within 34 geographic regions, with announced plans for 18 more Availability Zones and six more AWS Regions in Mexico, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Millions of customers — including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies — trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs.
About AWS Activate
AWS Activate is the pioneer startup program by a cloud provider to help startups build on the cloud and the first one to provide credits, so innovators can experiment with different technologies with little-to-no upfront cost to create their solutions. AWS Activate was the first startup program by a cloud provider to offer credits. It is completely free and startups can apply for different credit packages ranging from $1,000 to $100,000.
In APJ, AWS Activate has already provided over US$1 billion in AWS credits to startups headquartered in that region. Founders can use these credits to access developer or business support, as well as over 240 world-class AWS services like computing, storage, and databases to emerging technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, data lakes and analytics, and the Internet of Things.