Venture capital firm, ORZON Ventures, L.P. (“ORZON Ventures”), has announced the names of the first five organisations to receive investment from the fund, launched in October 2021. The funding is a collaborative project with VC’s 500 Tuktuks.
All five companies are startups committed to providing fresh new experiences and easy convenience for lifestyle and mobility consumers, as part of ORZON Ventures’ focus on Series A – B funding for businesses within sectors, such as food and beverage (F&B), travel, health and wellness.
The five companies receiving funding are:
Pomelo
Already a popular and influential fashion brand in Southeast Asia, Pomelo’s unique “Tap Try Buy” concept puts users in the driving seat and enables them to swiftly order online and try in-store or at home before committing to items. Pomelo also serves as an omnichannel enabler for and offers 500 labels through its easy-to-use platform.
Carsome
Carsome, a leading online platform for buying and selling used cars in SEA, is on a mission to fully digitalize the region’s used car industry by transforming the buying and selling of automobiles into a more 21st-century experience. Carsome provides an end-to-end service to consumers and used car dealers, including car inspection, ownership transfer and financing, with a secure, convenient and efficient service promise.
Freshket
Thailand’s sustainable end-to-end food supply chain platform Freshket provides hotels, restaurants and catering businesses (HoReCa) with access to a choice of more than 7,000 fresh and dried food products from their network of high-quality farms and producers. The aim is to create a transparent and fair supply chain for more balanced returns at all points in the system. Focused on quality, freshness, convenience and rapid delivery, Freshket has already more than 10,000 HoReCa customers.
GoWabi
Interested in wellness and developing your health and becoming your best self? GoWabi’s platform is Thailand’s most popular gateway into exploring the incredible number of health and wellness services online to pamper yourself. The platform combines service search, price comparison, discounts, customer reviews, bookings and online payment, into an intuitive UX that is easy to navigate and use.
GoWabi also offers a SaaS tool for their thousands of providers to help manage and optimise their business.
Protomate
Protomate is a hardware-AI startup that manufactures consumer electronics products and develops services from new and emerging areas of technology. Protomate’s Thai founders herald from a background in Silicon Valley, with extensive industrial experiences at leading tech firms companies, such as Apple, Waymo and UC Berkley. Protomate’s ambition is to perfect the transportation and logistics industry and provide safety, high productivity and a seamless user experience.
Golden age for investment in startups
ORZON Ventures not only promises to develop its interests with funding and comprehensive business support but also empowers companies within its portfolio to expand the scope of their operations and target exponential growth with access to OR’s customer ecosystem in Thailand and abroad.
Ms. Jiraphon Kawswat, Chief Executive Officer and President of PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Company Limited (“OR”), said: “OR is investing through ORZON Ventures to support early-stage startups (Series A - B) in OR-related businesses areas and in new businesses to strengthen and create long-term growth. By investing in startups through ORZON Ventures, OR seeks to thrive beyond the oil business, by realising startups’ strengths in the use of technology and their adaptability to the rapidly changing economic landscape.”
Mr. Krating Poonpol, a General Partner of ORZON Ventures and the 500 TukTuks funds, said he was proud to support all of the selected startups and believes in the talent and ability of their founders who showed resilience and fortitude by building successfully during the COVID-19 epidemic. Moreover, Mr. Krating is confident that now is a golden age for startup investment in the region. And with even more unicorns emerging ORZON Ventures will be there to enable their success with its flexible, fast-moving structure and the opportunity for synergy with OR.
ORZON Ventures is committed to investing in and supporting startups in the region. In line with OR's vision of “Empowering All toward Inclusive Growth”, ORZON Ventures helps support entrepreneurs, communities and society.
For more information, please visit website www.orzon.ventures or email hello@orzon.ventures
