Japanese investors are interested in Thai tech startups, supporting their business expansion to regional markets, says an executive of Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri).
Japanese investors consider Southeast Asia and Thailand in particular to be key investment destinations, both in terms of direct investment and investment in local tech startups. Even though Thailand has fewer tech startups companies than Singapore, some of them have high growth potential.
Japanese investors see an opportunity in supporting Thai startups to expand to regional markets, said Bunsei Okubo, Krungsri's head of Japanese corporate and multinational banking.
Last week, Krungsri, the country's fifth-largest bank by total assets, together with a network of partners from prominent government agencies and business organisations from the Thai-Japanese-Asean alliance network, organised the Japan-Asean Startup Business Matching Fair 2023 to give startups access to investment opportunities and support their expansion beyond Asean.
Over 60 startups -- including 18 Thai startups -- operating in diverse industries such as health tech, e-marketplaces, fintech, logistics, as well as carbon credit-related businesses participated in the event, which drew 160 investors from countries within the region and Japan.
"We expect at least 10 business matching deals to be generated from the event within the next three years including Japanese-Thai deals. Moreover, Krungsri is ready to provide financial support and investment though a venture-capital model to help the businesses to grow," he said.
Mr Okubo said as well as financial assistance, Krungsri and its parent -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) -- would also support startups by providing "total solutions", including technological expertise, business insights, advisory services, and networking.
As the bank's largest startup business matching event, it also attracted Japanese investors looking to invest in Thai startups.
Sam Tanskul, managing director at Krungsri Innovate, a corporate venture capital arm of Krungsri, said recently three Japanese-Thai deals materialised under the bank's business matching project for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Krungsri Innovate last week also invested in a 19th local startup called PropTech. The company is preparing to increase capital for the business expansion of four more local startups which is expected to be completed in the next two months.
"The company is working with MUFG to search for investments in Vietnamese and Indonesian tech startups focusing on fintech. The investment would support Krungsri's consumer banking business in the region," he said.
Krungsri Finnovate (KFIN), another business unit under Krungsri, plans to launch a second private equity (PE) trust fund worth 1 billion baht for institutional and high net worth investors in the fourth quarter this year. The PE fund would invest in early-stage Thai startups, from series C to the pre-series A stage, Mr Sam said.
The first PE trust fund set up in August 2021 called Finnoventure Fund I provided a return on investment of 14% from nine tech startups.
