Thai tech startups have enjoyed a healthy growth over the past decade, and Techsauce Media Co Ltd apparently deserves the credit for enabling a community and an ecosystem along with other key players.
From the beginning, Techsauce has served as a key driving force behind Thailand’s tech ecosystem that it helped to lay the foundation 10 years ago. As of May 2021, Thai startups have raised funds totalling US$843.5 million.
Techsauce’s next mission is to push Thailand to become a tech-driven nation that produces and invents innovations and technologies.
Even after 10 years, there are still many more things that Techsauce can do to help improve Thailand’s competitiveness in the global tech community, CEO and co-founder Oranuch Lertsuwankit told The Story Thailand.
“When compared to neighbouring countries like Singapore and Indonesia, Thailand still has a lot of things to do,” she said.
Thailand’s startup sector has seen substantial development over the past decade. Businesses began their major shift towards innovative entrepreneurship in 2016 after becoming aware of technology disruptions.
For Oranuch, any country’s shift towards digital economy must be based on building small entrepreneurs with scalable capacity. These refer to startups with business potential and innovations that can make impacts.
Becoming a tech-driven nation requires startup owners with entrepreneurial mindset and support from large corporations and the government.
“If they are offered an opportunity, Thai startups will be able to take their first steps and get better,” the CEO said.
Techsauce’s four important roles
The first steps are essential for Thai startups and they should be given an opportunity to take off and grow, Oranuch says. She pointed out that many startups in South Korea and Indonesia were given opportunities by people in their countries.
Looking back, the CEO said there were not many key stakeholders 10 years ago. Techsauce was then born to connect between startups and corporate investors.
Techsauce started as a media portal offering content that later became a startup report. This later transformed into a directory currently known as Techsauce Startup Directory, a database on startup fund-raising and investment in Thailand.
Another role involves building a community and ecosystem through organizing the Techsauce Global Summit. The annual event has gone online during the Covid-19 pandemic but Oranuch expects it to be held normally after Thailand reopens the country.
Covid-19 has hit the sector hard and several startups could not make it through the difficult time, according to Oranuch. However, Techsauce promises to stay on and continue with its matchmaking role, helping Thai startups to get their investors.
“We try to get more deals sealed in Thailand,” she said.
Techsauce also plays the role of helping corporations to undergo digital transformation through collaboration with tech startups.
Due to its networking with more than 10,000 leading tech firms worldwide, Techsauce has the potential and resources to do business matching for Thai corporations looking for innovations through partnership and investment.
“We can help them find Thai and overseas startups with complex and specialized technologies to help drive their organizations. These include AI [artificial intelligence], machine learning, robotics and biotechnology,” Oranuch said.
“Also, we have allies to help those corporations with cultural transformation,” she added.
Moreover, Techsauce has the intention of preparing 1 million new-generation leaders within five years to have a mindset ready for future changes. For Oranuch, readiness to learn and adapt is a mindset that helps people prepared for any work-related changes.
“We created a new brand ConNEXT to allow young talents access to knowledge sources and prepare them for the working world,” she said.
The ConNEXT platform (https://techsauce.co/connext) helps young people in starting their new career. It offers a diverse database on necessary work-related knowledge and skills, in addition to interesting job offers and tech info from around the world.
Essentially, ConNEXT helps young people prepare themselves regarding their mindset, “skillset” and “toolset” before entering the working world.
“ConNEXT offers knowledge and inspiration to young people. We serve as a connection between young people and organizations looking for outstanding and skillful personnel,” Oranuch said.
Bridging Thailand and Southeast Asia
Techsauce has remained firm with its goal of helping Thailand to become a startup hub of Southeast Asia. Pre-Covid, it managed to build a connection between Thailand and more than 10 countries. The plan includes setting up Techsauce presence overseas to create more deal flows.
This refers to not only fund-raising but also serving as a bridge for Thai startups wishing to expand overseas and Thai corporations looking to invest in foreign startups.
“Our goal is to help Thai startups grow bigger. It’s not just about having unicorns, but also helping the raised funds grow significantly and new startups coming into play,” the Techsauce CEO said.
“We no longer regard ourselves as a local player for a long time now. We look beyond Thailand and view Southeast Asia as the next China with high economic potential.”
She said Techsauce was pushing for Thailand to become a technical and innovative country that connects with other countries in the region.
Techsauce’s ultimate goal is to be involved with propelling Thailand, and also Southeast Asia, alongside China, South Asia or even Europe.
For Techsauce, “opportunity” and “trust” are the two most important words, the CEO said.
“Techsauce would not have existed today without the trust and opportunity from the community, as well as support from corporations and the government,” she said.
Likewise, Oranuch asked for trust and opportunity for the Thai teams developing homegrown technologies and paving the way for more innovations.
The 10-year timeline for Techsauce
- 2011: Techsauce creates Thailand’s first ecosystem for startups during their infancy.
- 2012: Holding “Start It Up, Power It Up” event, with a few hundred participants in the first year. The number gradually grows to reach 5,000.
- 2014: Techsauce.co website officially launched to serve as a portal for news and information about startups.
- 2015: Publishing a report on Thailand’s startup ecosystem intended to be a reliable reference source.
- 2016: Launching Techsauce.co/en website, which gathers and presents English content to give Thai startups more regional exposure.
- 2017: Starting Techsauce Global Summit, an international conference on technology. In 2019, the event drew more than 15,000 participants from over 50 countries, becoming the “best tech conference” in Southeast Asia.
- 2018: Holding the first Innovation Week in Thailand in collaboration with HUBBA and Techstars, a global platform for investment and innovation. The event featured Techsauce Global Summit, Corporate Innovation Day, Thailand Startup Week and Techstars APAC Summit.
- 2019: Co-hosting the Google for Startup Asia Day event at Techsauce Global Summit aimed at drawing startups and investors from around the world into Thailand.
- 2019: Holding Techsauce Culture Summit, Thailand’s first international conference on cultural transformation.
- 2020: Organizing Techsauce Summit in Malaysia, the first such event outside Thailand.
- 2020: During Covid-19, Techsauce Virtual Summit is held as the first virtual international tech conference in Thailand.
