TakeMeTour takes home the prize from digital startup event
Thailand’s TakeMeTour yesterday took top honours after competing with seven other leading startups from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia at the “Digital Winners Asia Champion 2016”, the first regional Digital Winners Asia startup event held by Telenor Group.
Following the winning pitch, the team will return to their home market with 100,000 Norwegian kroner (Bt428,000) in initial expansion funds, and a wealth of support, network and knowledge to expand their business into neighbouring markets, in line with the event’s overall theme.
Hosted in Yangon, Myanmar, Digital Winners Asia is the first Asia-wide startup event that pairs some of the top startup talent from Telenor Group’s leading accelerator programmes across Asia and leaders in market expansion and entrepreneurship in a two-day learning and competition platform.
The format also featured keynote discussions from across the startup and venture capital communities such as Google, Golden Gate Ventures and Telenor Group’s own innovation and investment arms of the company.
“Bringing together some of the brightest startups from across Asia in our first Digital Winners Asia event was not only inspiring, but an exciting indication of the extraordinary talent and growth in this region. All teams were strong and dynamic contenders,” says Johanna Staaf, director of New Ventures, Telenor Group. “On a broader scale, having the ability to host such diverse groups under numerous innovative categories, in a market with a burgeoning tech future like Myanmar, is a true honour.”
The winning startup duo from TakeMeTour, Jinda-Apiraksa Amornched, CEO and co-founder, and Noppon Anukunwithaya, COO and co-founder, created the Bangkok-based company focused on providing consumer access to the largest collection of one-day tours in Thailand. They will use this experience to focus on growth in their own country, and they plan to expand into Myanmar starting with the expansion funds from Telenor Group.
“An event like Digital Winners Asia is a dream come true for startups like us. We started with the dtac Accelerate programme and have advanced to this point to be able look at expansion into other markets. Then to have the caliber of speakers and their personal advice at the event, is priceless,” says Jinda-Apiraksa.