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🇹🇭The future of Thai startups: Key players shaping the ecosystem

Thailand’s startup landscape is rapidly growing, fuelled by government support, investor interest, and an evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem. The startup ecosystem is diverse, with intense activity in fintech, e-commerce, healthtech, agritech, and travel tech.

Fintech is particularly robust in Thailand due to its cash-heavy economy and the government’s push for digital transformation. Healthtech and agritech have also gained momentum due to the country’s strong agricultural roots and focus on healthcare innovation.

Bangkok is the main startup hub, but Chiang Mai and Phuket are also emerging centres, especially for startups focusing on tourism and agriculture.

The Thai government actively fosters the startup ecosystem through programs such as the Thailand 4.0 initiative. This initiative aims to transform the economy by promoting innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. The National Innovation Agency (NIA) also provides funding, mentorship, and resources for early-stage startups.

There is increasing interest from local and international venture capital firms. Thailand has seen a rise in Series A and B funding rounds, with notable exits and a growing number of Southeast Asian unicorns inspiring further investor confidence.

Also Read: Thailand’s tech renaissance: Building bridges to global success

Below we bring you the list of Thailand’s fast-growing startups.

Pomelo

Pomelo Fashion is an internet-first brand offering multi-category fashion products for women. The product catalogue includes apparel, activewear, footwear, and accessories. The company also offers beauty products.

Founding year: 2013
Total funding raised: US$79 million
Investors: Jungle Ventures, Rich Sport Public, PTT, Central Group, Provident Growth, InterVest, Ambient Sound Investments, Lombard Investments, Lyra Ventures, JD.com, Provident Capital Partners, 500 Global, Innoven Capital, Fenox Venture Capital, QueensBridge Venture Partners, START TODAY, Kejora Capital, Coffee Ventures, Cento Ventures, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Iris Capital Partners, ORZON Ventures.

eatigo

eatigo is a mobile-based app that provides restaurant reservation service in Thailand. It enables users to search for restaurants or recommend nearby restaurants. It also provides discounts at restaurants on booking through the app.

Founding year: 2013
Total funding raised: US$25 million
Investors: The Fork Manager, TripAdvisor, Plan B Media, 8i Ventures.

Hungry Hub

An online platform for booking tables at restaurants. It allows users to search for restaurants based on their locations and book tables based on their preferences. The venture also offers food delivery services.

Founding year: 2013
Total funding raised: US$450,000
Investors: Orzon Ventures, ECG-Research, Expara, 500 Global, Digitaraya.

Finnomena

Finnomena is an online investment platform for equities and mutual funds. It offers tools to manage public funds and customise investment strategies. It also provides updates, insights, expertise, and alerts on public market investment.

Founding year: 2016
Total funding raised: US$18.7 million
Investors: Openspace Ventures, Gobi Partners, Premier Advisory Group, Krungsri, Finnovate, BCH Ventures, 500 Global, BCG, Mavcap, RISE.

Salary Hero

It is a cloud-based platform for financial benefits. It offers tools for improving employees’ financial health and productivity, increasing savings, etc.

Founding year: 2021
Total funding raised: US$2.8 million
Investors: Global Founders Capital, MVP, 500 Global, Titan Capital, 1982 Ventures.

PropertyScout

An online listing platform for commercial and residential properties in Thailand. It enables users to find real estate properties through the platform for rental processes. Its features include 3D virtual tours, 3D floor plans, and pictures of the properties.

Also Read: ‘AIS The StartUp’ wins Thai Prime Minister’s award for promoting entrepreneurs

Founding year: 2019
Total funding raised: US$7.8 million
Investors: Altara Ventures, Asymmetry Ventures, AngelCentral, Hustle Fund, Partech Partners,
Iterative, Swiss Founders Fund, CAV Investment Group, Alpha Founders Capital, simple.Capital, TK & Partners.

Zentry

It develops casual games and MMORPGs, powered by a blockchain infrastructure, consumer apps, and captivating IP. It also develops games for PCs and consoles. Its products include radiant, sigma, nexus, and Azul.

Founding year: 2021
Total funding raised: US$146 million
Investors: Binance, Coinbase, Animoca Brands, Pantera Capital, Hashed, DeFiance Capital,
Play Ventures, Alameda Research, Dapper Labs, Skyvision, Coin98, Arche Fund, CatcherVC,
RR2 Capital, Chilli Padi Capital, Lysithea Ventures, Maven Capital, X99 Ventures, AC Capital.

Flash Express

It provides end-to-end delivery solutions for e-commerce logistics companies and integrated service deliveries in Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia. It is also a leading firm in the next-day delivery space with nationwide coverage.

Founding year: 2017
Total funding raised: US$997 million
Investors: SCB 10X, Krungsri Finnovate, PTT, eWTP Capital, Chanwanich Company, Durbell,
Banyan Ventures, Cloud Angel Fund.

Spacely AI

Spacely AI is an AI-powered interior design tool that allows architects and designers to experiment with styles and materials quickly, accelerating the conceptualization of designs. With its impressive AI visualisation capabilities, Thailand-based Spacely AI rapidly renders dream spaces, making it a practical solution for interior designers.

Founding year: 2023
Total funding raised: Undisclosed amount.
Investor: SCB 10X.

DRVR

DRVR is a big data analysis firm focused on driving behaviour to improve fleet efficiency and direct costs and deliver improved customer service. It also gathers data important for driving more business and offers solutions for fleet utilization and real-time monitoring.

Founding year: 2014
Total funding raised: US$450,000
Smart Axiata Digital Innovation Fund, K-Startup Grand Challenge, Global Acceleration Academy.

MoneyTable

Moneytable is an online platform for payroll loans that facilitates online finance for workforce personnel and allows employees to explore personal financial options. The platform uses big data and machine learning algorithms to analyse applicants’ credit score information. It also uses blockchain technology to develop smart contracts and smart payments.

Founding year: 2016
Total funding raised: US$1.5 million
Kejora Capital,
K2 Venture Capital.

LINE MAN Wongnai

An online platform in Thailand that offers food ordering and delivery solutions, POS, advertising, and financial services.

Also Read: How 73-year-old Thai Wah works with tech startups to break new ground in noodles production

Founding year: 2020
Total funding raised: US$37,50,00,000
Investors: GIC, LINE Corporation, PTT, BRV Capital Management, Bualuang Ventures, Taiwan Mobile, Beacon VC

Ascend Money

A financial services platform for individuals. Its product includes True Money, an app-based wallet for money transfers and online payments, Ascend Wealth for mutual funds, Ascend Nano for consumer and business loans, and more.

Founding year: 2013
Total funding raised: US$34,50,00,000
Investors: MUFG, Krungsri Finnovate, Bow Wave Capital Management, Charoen Pokphand Group, Ant Group.

aCommerce

An online platform offers end-to-end e-commerce solutions for brands in Thailand. Its services include website development, performance marketing, warehousing, fulfilment, shipping, delivery, and more. The offerings also include multi-channel management, inventory management, logistics management, custom integration, and more. The platform also allows users to manage multiple stores, engagements, and orders.

Founding year: 2013
Total funding raised: US$118.8 million
Investors: Indies Capital Partners, Emerald Media, Blue Sky Alternative Investments,
DKSH, Sinar Mas, January Capital, MDI Ventures, Inspire Ventures, Ardent Capital, Sumitomo,
JL Capital, APD, CyberAgent Capital, NTT Docomo Ventures, Asia Pacific Digital, GMO Venture Partners, Ideosource, Alpha JWC Ventures, Maloekoe Ventures.

Deliveree

Deliveree is an app and web-based platform for booking on-demand cargo transportation services. Users can enter shipping and delivery details and choose among the company’s fleet of various trucks. They can select the service type and receive freight shipping rates.

Founding year: 2015
Total funding raised: US$10,95,00,000
Investors: Gobi Partners, spilventures.com, Inspire Ventures, Genesis Ventures, Asia Summit Capital, Inspire Ventures, PSA unboXed, Ardent Capital, Wavemaker Partners.

Lightnet

Lightnet provides money transfer solutions over blockchain networks. It is a decentralised network enabling cross-border money transfer solutions through cryptocurrencies. It utilises the Velo protocol to facilitate remittance transactions for underbanked banking transactions.

Founding year: 2018
Total funding raised: US$81.2 million
Investors: Raffles, LDA, Seven Bank, Hanwha, UOB, Hopeshine Capital, Uni-President,
Du Capital, Signum Capital, HashKey, Everest Ventures Group, Ausvic Capital.

Sunday Insurance

An AI-based health and property and casualty insurance platform for individuals and businesses. It offers quotes for auto insurance, travel insurance, health insurance, and more. It also offers online claims processing and policy management platforms.

Founding year: 2017
Total funding raised: US$75 million
Investors: Tencent, SCB 10X, Vertex Growth, Vertex Ventures, Quona, Z Venture Capital,
KSK Power Venture, Aflac Ventures, Granite Oak, Line Ventures, Accion, OSK Ventures International Berhad.

Roojai.com

An online distribution platform for auto insurance. It allows users to choose an insurance plan with an auto repair garage. Users are allowed to check the insurance quotes by providing the vehicle details on the platform. Its other services include roadside assistance, repair warranty, refund, and guarantee.

Founding year: 2015
Total funding raised: US$69 million
Investors: HDI Global, IFC, Primary Group.

Amity Corporation

It is a platform as a service for enterprise-grade AI applications and agents in Thailand. Its offerings include enterprise and Generative AI chatbots and pre-built social features for apps and websites. The platform enables users to choose from a prompt library or create custom prompts, train the AI assistant, test it in real-time, and deploy it via webhooks or embed codes.

Founding year: 2012
Total funding raised: US$60 million
Investors: Insight Capital, SMDV, Gobi Partners, AlteriQ Global.

Ookbee

Ookbee is a digital platform that offers books, fiction, newspapers, online courses, audiobooks, and magazines. Customers can buy these products from its platform.

Founding year: 2012
Total funding raised: US$28 million
Investors: Tencent, Sumitomo, Beacon VC, Transcosmos, InVent, Intouch, AIS The StartUP.

Freshket

An online B2B marketplace offering farm products. The product catalogue includes vegetables, fruits, meats, grains, soft drinks, and restaurant supplies.

Founding year: 2016
Total funding raised: US$26.5 million
Investors: PTT, OpenSpace, Betagro Group, ORZON Ventures, Volta Circle, Openspace Ventures, ECG-RESEARCH, 500 Global, RISE.

SleekEV

SLEEK EV is an electric two-wheeler brand that aims to establish electric vehicles (EVs) as the standard rather than the exception in urban mobility. In partnership with financial institutions in Thailand, Sleek EV also provides vehicle financing with no down payment required and a low interest rate.

Founding year: 2019
Total funding raised: US$5.7 million
ORZON Ventures, Krungsri Finnovate, January Capital, and A2D.

APX Logistics

APX is a digital freight consolidator offering shipping, pallet, and warehousing services through its network of logistics partners to power Less-than-Truckload (LTL) cargo services for businesses. It aims to build a connected truck transport network in Thailand and the ASEAN region to improve logistics efficiency while reducing CO2 emissions.

Also Read: Thailand’s APX Logistics nets funding from SBI Ven Capital for Vietnam expansion

Founding year: 2019
Total funding raised: US$2.7 million
Investors: Alpha Founders Capital, Orzon Ventures, SBI Ventures, Asian Development Bank.

Image Credit: 123RF

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