A micro-fund focused on Thai startups reveals what has happened in the past three months of operation.
500 Startups, one of the most active seed investors/accelerators in the world, made an announcement early this year about a $10 Million micro-fund focused on Thai promising startups — called 500 TukTuks. That announcement was such a thrill, as this definitely would make an impact to the Thailand’s startup ecosystem!
Led by Krating Poonpol (Founder of Disrupt University) and Moo Natavudh (CEO of Ookbee), 500 TukTuks has been operating for about three months now. Today, they made an exciting announcement once again at Echelon Thailand 2015 about their fundraising and investment up to date.
Krating stated “After the first batch of investments, 500TukTuks is more keen in Thailand’s startup ecosystem and gaining confidence from investors who believe in the potential of Thai tech startups, leading to more investment into 500 TukTuks. So we decided to increase the fund size to $12 M and will invest in 60-70 Thai startups over the next 3 years. This is a good sign for startup ecosystem and for the country as a whole because it shows that more people are willing to support Thai startup community.”
Moo Natavudh also added “500 TukTuks is here not only to invest, but to provide Silicon Valley’s education, the access to talented mentors and other 2000+ founders in the 500 Startups network, and to grow #500Family together at the same time.”
The highlight of the announcement was the 10 startup companies in Thailand that made it through the TukTuks’ first batch of investment.
