Thai start-ups ready to spread their wings

The phenomenon of start-up companies has been flourishing in Thailand for a few years now and many of these firms are now starting to reap the benefits, with many of them planning to take their ventures overseas. Here we look at three start-up companies that have been successful domestically and are eyeing the regional and international markets. 

 

Ookbee

After successfully providing an e-publication platform for two and a half years, Ookbee will be launching two new platforms by the middle of this month – “Ookbee” and “OokbeeME”. 

Natavudh Pungcharoenpong, Ookbee’s chief executive officer, said the Ookbee platform will focus on pocketbooks, while OokbeeMee will focus on selling subscriptions for magazines. 

“We need to have our own brand if we want to take it abroad,” he said. 

Ookbee has been successful in providing e-book services for publishers and mobile operators in both local and regional markets. It currently has more than 4 million users, most of whom are in Thailand, but the number of users in neighbouring countries like Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, and Singapore is also rising. Ookbee is also starting to make its presence felt in the Philippines and Indonesia. 

“We use a different business model for each market,” Natavudh explained.

Vietnam, where it has 100,000, is the only country where Ookbee has set up a fully-owned office. It will be setting up offices in Malaysia and the Philippines with local partners in October. 

“In Vietnam and Malaysia, we have user interface in local languages,” said Natavudh.

Next month, it will join Malaysia’s CelCom to launch OokbeeME, which will offer users a buffet service, under which they can pay monthly fees to gain access to an unlimited number of magazines and newspapers on the Ookbee bookstore. 

“We will be launching this service in Thailand next week. Under this, users will pay Bt279 a month for access to 130 magazines or Bt429 to gain access to the 130 magazines as well as six newspapers via OokbeeME,” Natavudh said.

After spending a year abroad, Ookbee reckons its revenue will hit the Bt150 million mark, rising from Bt90 million last year and Bt10 million in 2011 – its first year of operation. 

“We have been in business for 30 months now and started making profits after their first seven months. We are continuing to move forward with our goal to reach Bt1 billion in revenue by the end of 2017. We will continue investing Bt10 million to Bt15 million in neighbouring countries,” he said. 

He added that Ookbee became successful because it chose the right time to enter this market. It currently has 480 publishers and aims to have another 600 by the end of this year. 

“We build and provide infrastructure for our partners and get 30 per cent from the transactions. Our goal is to become a leader in the e-book market in Southeast Asia within the next three years,” he said. 

 

Company: Ookbee

Service: E-bookstore service 

Started: December 2010

Targeted revenue in 2013: Bt150 million

Available: Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam 

Investor: Bt60 million from InTouch InVent venture-capital project 

 

 

 

Builk.com

 

Builk Asia, a software firm that runs Builk.com – a social-media site for the construction industry – is ready to go overseas with its new services. 

Patai Padungtin, the man behind Builk Asia, said Builk.com would be going global next year with its plan to become a marketplace for companies in the construction industry’s supply chain. 

“Setting up this market is our next big thing and will become the key source of revenue,” Patai said.

Contractors and supplies can meet and make deals at Builk.com, which is already providing free service to about 2,000 companies. 

“The only source of our revenue at present is advertising,” Patai said, adding that the new marketplace service set to be launched next year should generate at least 50-per-cent of the revenue by 2015. 

“This year, Builk.com has had transactions worth a total of Bt5 billion and we are aiming for the figure to rise to Bt30 billion once we launch the marketplace service,” Patai said. 

Builk Asia will be launching two new services, including extra items added on to its free-of charge software as well as market research. It will also launch an application on the iOS platform allowing users across the world to benefit from Builk.com’s free construction sofware. 

“The Builk app will be launched this month in four languages: Thai, English, Bahasa Indonesia and Laotian. This app has been under trial for several months now at our construction site at the Central Embassy branch,” he said. 

The company is set to launch its market research service this month using information of about 4,000 projects that it already has in hand. 

It is planning to take the Builk.com software to Indonesia first and then to Australia. Patai said that by the end of this year, Builk.com’s revenue should be between Bt6 million and Bt7 million, of which 30 per cent will come from advertising, 40 per cent from market research and 30 per cent from licensed software. 

“By 2014, we expect to grow by more than 100 per cent with four streams of revenue, namely advertising on Builk.com, licensing software overseas, conducting market research as well as providing a marketplace for the construction industry. By 2015, we expect our revenue to reach US$1 million [Bt30 million], 50 per cent of which should come from the marketplace business. Revenue will start growing rapidly once we are successful in the global market. Now, we are moving on the three tracks – local, regional and global – at the same time,” Patai said.

He added that thanks to a Bt12.5-million investment from Project Planning Services, an engineering consultancy and architecture firm, Builk.com is strong financially and is able to run trials before entering new markets. 

 

Company: Builk Asia

Service: Builk.com, free software with advertising 

Started: 2009

Targeted revenue in 2013: Bt6 million to Bt7 million

Awards: Echelon 2012; Thailand ICT Awards 2011; Asia-Pacific ICT Awards 2011

Investor: Bt12.5 million from Project Planning Services

 

 

 

Wongnai.com 

 

After Wongnai Media got funding from Recruit Strategic Partners Inc (RSP), part of Recruit Holdings – a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that is investing in innovative start-ups – it set up an office in Chiang Mai. 

Yod Chinsupakul, chief executive officer and co-founder of Wongnai Media, said that securing RSP as its strategic investor was a big step forward as it will help expand the firm’s user base and community network.

Yod said Wongnai.com’s core purpose is to provide an online marketing platform for local businesses in the food and beauty industries as well as department stores. 

This year, he said, Wongnai.com will only be expanding locally. 

“We are still eyeing the overseas market, but not for this year. We will go overseas once we are ready,” Yod said.

The current collaboration with Recruit Holdings is to provide accurate information about restaurants and reviews via a fun, functional and easy-to-use platforms. 

So far, Wongnai.com lists about 120,000 restaurants and has 700,000 members – a number it aims to raise to 1 million by the end of this year. Most of Wongnai.com’s earnings come from advertising. It has also launched an app that can be used on iOS, Android, Blackberry or Windows phone. 

“Our assets are the database of restaurants in Thailand and our users’ reviews. Our short-term mission is to expand to other kinds of businesses but still focus on Thailand,” Yod said. 

Wongnai Media launched its restaurant review website and mobile application in 2010 and is now Thailand’s market leader in the area.

 

Company: Wongnai Media

Service: Wongnai.com, an online marketing platform for the food industry

Started: 2010 

Awards: Software Park Thailand’s KhunSuek VS Samurai Startup Pitching 2013

Investor: Recruit Strategic Partners Inc