The graduating founders took the opportunity to pitch their startups to over 40 venture capitalists and angel investors, such as Galaxy Ventures, GREE Ventures, and CyberAgent Ventures
After an intensive four-month programme that concluded in December, Vietnam-based accelerator Topica Founder Institute (TFI) has graduated eleven startups from its Bangkok chapter. This marks TFI’s second launch in Thailand. It first ran in 2013 but had to pause for the next two years due to lack of manpower and disruptions caused by the 2014 Thai coup d’état.
Of 36 applicants from six countries that applied for the programme, only 11 graduated. Out of these, eight founders pitched their ideas and business model to over 40 venture capitalists and angel investors, such as Galaxy Ventures, GREE Ventures, CyberAgent Ventures, Unitus Impact, Carego, Innovatube, Digital Ventures, and the Bangkok Ventures Club, a newly-formed angel investing network that recently raised a US$20 million fund.
Also Read: Check out the 14 new Vietnamese startups from the Topica Founder Institute
“TFI seems to provide a clear and sharp value proposition to startups that are early but serious. It’s not for dabblers, as the program appears to screen for maximum commitment and readiness within each batch,” said Surawat Promyotin, the Executive Director of Bangkok Venture Club, in an official press statement.
Here are the eight startups that pitched to investors.
1. AsiaGrab
AsiaGrab is a b2b marketplace for qualified Asian manufacturers to expand their branding and reach to a global community. It provides a suite of business support tools such as live chat, logistics, product certification, quotes, instant supplier microsite and payment gateway through third party solution providers.
2. CareerBolt
Besides acting as a job search site, CareerBolt offers a career Q&A platform that allows job seekers to submit questions on career development and job descriptions anonymously. Local career experts or any member from the CareerBolt community will then ask these questions. Additionally, other career resource products will be offered.
3. Commment
The SaaS startup aims to make team communication more efficient through its collaborative communications platform.
4. GrabaJob
GrabaJob mixes Tinder-style matching system with job hunt. The platform will only serve the service industry for now. It recently raised US$50,000 in funding.
5. HungryHub
The restaurant booking app allows user to make reservations at high value restaurants. Users can also earn reward points that can be redeemed at the partner restaurants.
6. KParking
This parking app aims to tackle the pain point of insufficient parking spaces in cities.
7. PickaPet
This startup is working on a solution to reduce the number of strays yet grow the pet market in a sustainable way.
8. Teamprovements
This corporate training platform aims to make training programmes more effective using a 90-day programme that includes on-the-job training and measuring key metrics.
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Image Credit: TFI
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