Over a year old, the company has invested in 20 companies — including Echelon Alumni GizTix
500 Tuk Tuks, the Thailand-based fund for the global VC firm 500 startups, announced today it will be expanding its fund size to US$15 million, a US$3 million infusion from its current number of US$12 million.
Announced on his Facebook page, Fund Manager Krating Poonpol said the firm plans to close the fund for the next 60 days. The goal is to invest in nearly 60 companies over the next two years.
Poonpol took a moment to give specific thanks to 500 Startups Founder Dave McClure and Malaysia Managing Partner Khalie Ng for believing in Thailand as an opportunity to build the startup community through early-stage investing.
“[Thanks to] startups and other brothers and sisters [for] all the help and encouragement. We are pushing the [startup scene in] Thailand to grow rapidly and strong and [hope it] can stand proudly on the world stage in the near future, :),” he wrote, translated into English by e27.
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500 Tuk Tuks is just over a year old (July 7 was its one-year anniversary) and it invested in the 2016 Echelon Thailand Top 100 representative GizTix, among the few.
In May, the investment fund announced it had invested in a batch of ten startups which would bring the total amount of companies invested in to 20.
In Asia, 500 Startups has regional funds similar to 500 Tuk Tuks in Malaysia (500 Durians), South Korea (500 Kimchi), Japan (500 Startups JP), Vietnam (500 Startups Vietnam), and India (500 Kulfi). Additionally, it also has focussed funds for Turkey, the MENA region and the Nordics.
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Non-regional-focussed funds include fintech and mobile-focussed operations.
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