Mashable is taking its global expansion to the next level with the launch of a new operation in South East Asia.

The digital news portal, based in New York and with operations in the UK and Australia, recently raised $31m in funding and has now set its sights on boosting its presence across Asia Pacific.

Mashable is opening an office in Singapore, and has appointed former TechCrunch journalist Victoria Ho to lead its editorial operation across the region. Ho joins from social entertainment app Migme.

She will work alongside Gwendolyn Regina, who joined Mashable as director of strategy and business development, APAC, in April.

Mashable’s chief strategy officer Adam Ostrow told the Financial Times: “When you look where mobile and social media is growing round the world, Southeast Asia is one of the places it’s expanding the quickest.

“There are tailwinds there for Mashable, as a little more than half our traffic is coming via social and more than half of visits are on mobile.”

Mashable claims it receives around 43 million unique monthly visits to its sites, and has 24 million social followers across the globe. Revenues are expected to rise 45% year-on-year in 2015.

The publisher’s chief revenue officer Seth Rogin recently joined M&M Global for a discussion on why media businesses should embrace ‘the fear’, and why the pace of change is only going to get faster.

Watch the full interview below: