InVent acquires 25% stake in Golfdigg start-up for Bt23.83m
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INVENT, a corporate venture-capital project of InTouch Holdings, yesterday announced it was in-|vesting Bt23.83 million for a 25-|per-cent stake in Thai start-up Golfdigg.
Thanapong Na Ranong, vice president of InTouch, said the investment in Golfdigg was meant to scale its business to penetrate new services including golf-related reservations such as for golf carts and hotel accommodation, and new markets abroad where InTouch already has a presence such as Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Golfdigg, the developer of a golf-course booking application, won Advance Info Service’s The Start-up 2014 competition and, this year, a Thailand ICT Award in the Tourism and Hospitality category.
It was also one of eight start-ups that participated in the InVent Accelerate programme last year. During the three months of that programme, Golfdigg was trained and mentored in several fields, especially marketing, business management and presentation.
“After the programme, we decided to invest in Golfdigg, since we were confident in its potential. This is InVent’s seventh investment in a Thai tech start-up since 2012,” Thanapong said.
Bhurich Aksorntub, chief executive officer and co-founder of Golfdigg, said the investment would be used to scale up his company, and most of it would be spent on marketing and operations.
The company aims to triple its revenue from Bt3.6 million this year to Bt15 million in 2016. The increased revenue will come from business expansion including an increase in members, golf courses, and transactions and penetrating new markets.
500 transactions per day
Currently, Golfdigg has 20,000 members, handles 500 transactions per day, and serves 24 golf courses. By next year, it aims to double the number of members to 40,000 and increase the number of golf courses to between 50 and 60.
Thailand has almost 240 golf courses and more than a million golfers, both Thais and foreigners.
“We will also add more new features. For example, our latest feature allows golfers to book up to seven days in advance, giving them much more freedom to choose the day and time they will play, for the same special price,” Bhurich said.
He said Golfdigg would retain its unique strong point, offering last-minute service to allow golfers to book today and play tomorrow, while continuing to add new features.
From 2016 to 2019, it aims to raise Series A funding.
Thanapong said InVent had a budget of about Bt200 million to invest in tech start-ups each year. However, this year, it has invested in only two, Playbasis (Bt50 million) and Golfdigg (Bt23.83 million).
“Two more start-ups that we are investing in will be announced |soon, before the end of this year,” he said.
The other five start-ups in which InVent has invested are Ookbee in 2012, Meditech Solution and Computerlogy in 2013, and Infinity Levels Studio and Sinoze last year.
