Telecoms offer three programmes to back tech start-ups

The three mobile-telecom operators – Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Corporation – have been working to take Thailand into the forefront of tech start-up hubs in the region.

With this encouragement, and with training from local and foreign experts, tech start-ups are beginning to flourish.

AIS was the first to kick off a programme in this area, “AIS The StartUp”, in December 2011, followed by the launch of DTAC Accelerate early this year, and True Corp just launched its “True Incube” programme last week.

It is now possible for tech start-ups with interesting ideas to commercialise them with the support of the telecoms and other stakeholders including bankers, investors, government agencies and media companies.

The aim is to be successful in the world market like the big tech firms, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter, which could generate a lot of revenue for this country and become influential in people’s lives.

The formats of all three operators’ start-up campaigns are similar. After a proposal is made, if it looks promising, the applicant team may be selected for an interview. Only 20 teams are then chosen for intensive three-month training courses.

In the training camp, the teams are coached by experts on how to initiate a business, on how to manage it and fund it, and on relevant technologies. Each programme aims to have only five finalist teams present their prototype products and business models to international and local investors on demo day, or “pitching day”. It is possible to secure investment in the tech talent that very day.

Each operator also has a list of partners from within the start-up ecosystem, including tech firms, financial institutions, investors, government agencies, publishers, and others with global marketing, channelling, financing, and know-how.

 

AIS The StartUp

AIS set this programme up to be a bridge for local developers to both local and regional markets. The first AIS The StartUp Weekend took place in late 2011, and now the company has set up a new business unit called AIS The StartUp dedicated to overseeing the encouragement of the tech start-up ecosystem in Thailand.

This year, AIS plans to encourage more new start-ups with more than 100 projects. It offers three main supports according to the stage of the start-up’s development.

The first is co-marketing, with potential access to AIS’s 35.7 million subscribers and SingTel’s 400 million. The second is co-investment through InVent, InTouch’s investment arm, which has set Bt50 million as the investment budget. The third level of support is access to global investors via InnoVenture, an investment unit of SingTel and joint venture between that firm and SoftBank, a Japanese telecommunications and Internet corporation.

AIS aims to turn at least 10 per cent of its sponsored start-up projects into commercial operations this year.

AIS also has its App Store, a platform for distribution of applications to its subscribers, which currently offers 50,000 apps. It sees 1 million to 1.5 million downloads per month by about 2 million active users. Fewer than 5 per cent of the apps are Thai, and only 5 per cent are paid applications – the rest are free.

 

DTAC Accelerate

In February, DTAC Accelerate was kicked off to help provide Thai application developers with a short cut to world-class learning experiences in America’s Silicon Valley. Its first campaign is a mobile-application competition under the theme “Wizard of App”.

As part of the programme, DTAC recently brought in 500 Startups, a seed accelerator and related investment fund, to conduct a “Geeks on a Plane” tour in Thailand to give mobile-application developers a rare opportunity to have their products presented to venture-capital investors and start-up specialists.

 

True Incube

True Corp last week kicked off this incubation programme with Bt250 million earmarked to boost the tech start-up ecosystem in Thailand. True Corp joined forces with global partners 500 Startups and Gobi Partners, and locally with the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), Software Park Thailand, Microsoft (Thailand), LaunchPad and ThumbsUp to drive the programme.

 

Chances but challenges

In April, at “NForum”, an offline forum of the online community, on “Tech Start-ups: Challenges in the Thai Way”, hosted by The Nation and supported by Microsoft Thailand, panellists all agreed there were plenty of opportunities but also challenges for Thai tech entrepreneurs and it was the right time for them to try to get into the forefront of the tech industry, as all the right factors are in place. All that is required of them is to be willing to take a risk and go for it.

The panellists confirmed that the ecosystem is ready to welcome these potential players. This includes technologies such as cloud computing; devices, especially mobile ones including smart phones and tablets; and support from technology firms and investors, especially corporate venture capital.

The important thing is the readiness of the tech start-ups themselves. They have to be ready to take a risk to get the chance to succeed like their counterparts overseas. However, it is also important to beware of an unsustainable bubble of start-ups.