Ministry okeys start-up budget

“The government’s role is not as a venture capitalist, but we offer funding in the very early stage of development to help them scale up and catch a round of seed funding later,” Vice Minister Pansak Siriruchatapong said yesterday.

He said at “Echelon Thailand”, one of the largest start-up events in Southeast Asia, that since start-ups are one on the government’s priorities, the ministry would act as a facilitator to encourage development of a start-up ecosystem in Thailand.

It expects 1,500 projects to be pitched to the government. The ministry will pick only 300 projects for funding, incubation, acceleration and training. Finally, it hopes to have at least 10 start-up projects as local champions to get the next round of support for training and workshops abroad.

The two main criteria for winning incentives are to show a prototype of a product or service and a business model.

“The ICT Ministry will collaborate with the other key stakeholders to drive this project. We will start to roll this out in early 2016,” he said.

500 TukTuks

A micro-fund focused on Thai start-ups, 500 TukTuks, also told Echelon Thailand that it would increase its funding from the previous target of US$10 million to $12 million after gaining the confidence of investors who believe in the potential of Thai tech start-ups.

After the first batch of investment, 500 TukTuks is also keener on Thailand’s start-up ecosystem.

“So we decided to increase the fund size to $12 million and will invest in 60-70 Thai start-ups over the next three years.

“This is a good sign for the start-up ecosystem and for the country as a whole because it shows that more people are willing to support the Thai start-up community,” said Krating Poonpol, fund manager.

The fund 500 TukTuks is an arm of 500 Startups, one of the most active seed investors/accelerators in the world. It has been in operation for three months.

It has invested in 10 start-up companies in Thailand in the first round – Omise, Claim Di, Blisby, Hubba, Wisher, Skootar, FlowAccount, TakeMeTour, Stylhunt and WashBox24.

Amadeus Next

Amadeus launched Amadeus Next to mentor, nurture and partner with travel start-ups in the Asia-Pacific region at the Echelon Thailand conference.

Simon Akeroyd, vice president for corporate strategy and business development, said Amadeus Next was not a short-term project or a one-off investment.

“It’s a long-term partnership and commitment to create a collaborative travel tech start-up community in Asia-Pacific,” he said.

Globally, Amadeus also has a dedicated Amadeus Venture Fund that offers early-stage minority investments in start-ups.