The company also announced it has closed its US$15.4 million fund, blowing past its original US$10 million target

 

For startups looking to hitch a trip across Thailand’s entrepreneurial road, they might be wise to look into hailing a ride on 500 TukTuks.

The Thailand-focussed microfund of the American seed stage investment company, 500 Startups, has revealed today its third batch of 10 companies receiving investment.

The VC also announced it has officially closed the “final dollar” of its latest fund — which closed at US$15.4 million, surpassing its target goal of US$10 million by 54 per cent.

According to Fund Manager Krating Poonpol, 500 TukTuks plans to double the current number of investments and fund 30 more companies in the coming years.

The other leader of 500 TukTuks, Moo Natavudh, said 10 of the 30 companies in the VC’s portfolio have received follow-on investment (or are close to finalising deals).

“[It is] quite an impressive percentage given that our fund is not even one and a half years old yet,” he said.

Finally, the company said it has plans to launch its second fund fairly quickly. It will be called 500 TukTuks II. That fund will focus on seed-stage and Series A funding for Thai startups.

Also Read: Thailand startup ecosystem is 3 years behind Indonesia: Krating Poonpol of 500 TukTuks

Now, let’s take a look at the latest batch of 500 Tuk Tuks portfolio companies. (For reference, here is Batch 1, and Batch 2)

Pomelo

Pomelo is a fashion-focussed e-commerce platform in Thailand. In October, 2016, the company announced it had successfully completed a follow-on to its Series A round — bringing the total amount raised to US$11 million. Jungle Ventures was the lead investor for the Series A.

Launched in 2013, the company’s core markets are Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. The startup said it wants to use the money from the latest round to pursue further expansion.

FinAccel

FinAccel is a fintech company that offers instant credit financing for the e-commerce sector. It’s flagship product, Kredivo, allows users to buy-now, pay-later while providing merchants with another means to facilitate transactions.

In June, it raised a ‘seven-digit’ round led by Jungle Ventures.

Favstay

A localised version of AirBnB, FavStay is a travel startup that helps people rent trendy condos in Thailand’s most popular tourist destinations. For example, by clicking around Hua Hin, a person can rent a boat house, an apartment or a two-bedroom condo.

Tourkrub.co

Tourkrub is an outbound tour package booking company for Thai people travelling abroad. It offers flight, hotel and and full-day activity planning in countries like Japan, South Korea, China and the European Union. The company gives the individual choice over the tour package and claims to do so faster than a travel agency.

TrustingSocial

A credit scoring company that is targetting the underbanked market. The solution wants to help banks connect to people who may not have the financial tools they need simply because of a lack of data. It’s tools help reduce fraud and risk, cut costs and lower the barrier to entry for the large unbanked population in the region.

PerroPack

PerroPack is an online dog-focussed pet store with a few different websites that specialise in different business models. PerroPet is an online media company for all thing pet ownership and PerroMart is a traditional e-commerce platform with items like pet food, toys and grooming tools.

The site that stands out as particularly interesting is PerroBox, a subscription company that delivers a box of goodies based on the dog’s characteristics.

Gnowbe

Gnowbe wants to empower employees by helping companies develop interesting, engaging and informative content to improve culture and morale. The mobile platform provides a template to help build application-based spaces to share information — be it company training, updates or information distribution.

Check out the video below.

Asiola

Asiola is a crowdfunding platform that specifically curates for Thailand. It focusses on creative artists, entrepreneurs and community-driven projects. For example, the current ‘featured project’ is to help raise money for the Thai Blind Orchestra so visually impaired Thai’s can continue to perform across the country.

Cookly

What is the best part of travelling? Exploring the local food of course! Cookly helps people discover and book cooking classes, foodie excursions and even ‘adventurous cooking experiences‘ across Asia.

Also Read: Thailand’s 500 Tuk Tuks hits the gas, expands investment fund to US$15 million

Most of its platform is based in Thailand, but it offers services in Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Ubud and Hanoi.

Freshket

Freshket is an online food supplier/marketplace for restaurants. It pitches itself as a one-stop shop for the fresh food industry so chefs do not have to run around town finding the best ingredients. The company was selected to represent Thailand at Silicon Valley’s BlackBox Connect after winning the Dtac Accelerate Demo Day Batch 4 in August, 2016.

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