Bytedance's TikTok To Invest Extensively In Southeast Asia

TikTok, a short video app, wants to invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia over the next few years, according to CEO Shou Zi Chew.

Chew stated at an event in Indonesia that TikTok's content is diversifying as the company gains more users and grows into e-commerce. ByteDance, a Chinese company, owns TikTok.

In terms of user numbers, Southeast Asia is one of TikTok's most important markets. But the platform has yet to translate the large user base into a major e-commerce revenue source as it faces fierce competition from bigger rivals of Sea's Shopee, Alibaba’s Lazada and GoTo's Tokopedia.

TikTok's e-commerce platform lets consumers purchase goods through links on the app during live streaming.

Chew stated that TikTok has 8,000 employees in Southeast Asia and 2 million small traders selling their items on its site, without going into greater detail.

ByteDance Ltd. is a Chinese internet technology corporation based in the Cayman Islands with headquarters in Beijing. ByteDance, founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, Liang Rubo, and others, developed the video-sharing social networking services and apps TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin.