Category: News

At STARTUP THAILAND x INNOVATION THAILAND EXPO 2020 by the National Innovation Agency (NIA), Mr. Thanapong Na Ranong (left), Managing Director of Beacon Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (Beacon VC), KBank’s venture capital arm, received the “Prime Minister Award: National Startup 2020” in the “Investor of the Year” category from ADJ. Prof. Anek Laothamatas, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of Thailand.

The award recognizes Beacon VC as a venture capital investor that has the capability to bolster growth for local startups, is an important contributor to the development of Thailand startup ecosystem, and makes impact on a national level with its investments while advancing the level of domestic investors to an international level.

Beacon VC’s recent investments include payment technology provider Digio, blue-collar staffing platform Workmate, SME neobank Aspire and rental property management platform Horganice.

 

---

Also in:

Techsauce (Thai)

Online ticketing for six zoos under Zoological Park Organization under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King – Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Chiang Mai Zoo, Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo, Songkhla Zoo, Ubon Ratchathani Zoo and Khon Kaen Zoo – is now available on Eventpop.

Additionally, the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment Thailand has announced the six zoos will be open for visiting free of charge during 15 – 30 June 2020. Thereafter, entry fees will be on a 50% discount from July onwards until the COVID-19 situation in Thailand is considered to be better.

In the beginning, up to 2,000 visitors will be allowed per day at each zoo, which will have two sessions between 08:00-12:00 and 12:00-17:00, and advanced booking is required via online at Eventpop or phone. All visitors are requested to comply with the ‘Zoo New Norm’ protocol, including wearing masks at all times within the zoo, allowing temperature checks by the zoo and maintain physical distancing between each other.

 

Contact:

• Khao Kheow Open Zoo 038 318 444
• Chiang Mai Zoo 053 221 179
• Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo 083 372 0404
• Songkhla Zoo 074 598 555
• Ubon Ratchathani Zoo 045 252 761
• Khon Kaen Zoo 086 455 6341

In brief:

• Thailand’s SMEs are the “backbone of Thailand’s economy,” but their cost of managing employee payroll and complying with regulations remains high.
• COVID-era work-from-home practices have greatly created the demand for online payroll solutions among small businesses.
• FlowAccount has partnered with KBank to offer online payroll process service via a web browser-based app, FlowPayroll.
• FlowPayroll has already onboarded over 10,000 Thai SMEs

FlowAccount, one of many leading startups in Beacon VC’s portfolio, has recently launched an online payroll service aiming to empower Thai SMEs with more robust HR solutions. FlowPayroll is integrated with Kasikornbank’s K-Cash Connect Plus and helps entrepreneurs and small business owners seamlessly manage their HR headaches remotely, anywhere and anytime. The free trial period starts now.

COVID-19 forces business owners to pay deeper attention to cost-saving measures and ways to maintain liquidity. These business owners are also becoming more hands-on with day-to-day business operations from sales management, marketing, accounting, to payroll management. The rapid increase in the number of tasks that the owners have to manage drives stronger demand for remote business management tools.

Payroll management, the universal headache for business owners

Even the smallest businesses require payroll management. Without an in-house accountant or human resources department, this task automatically falls to business owners. Every month, business owners must handle sensitive and complicated salary information, while trying hard to meet monthly deadlines. However, there aren’t any existing low-cost tools in the market that can help business owners manage payroll in a reliable and time-efficient fashion.

“Many business owners open up a spreadsheet, type in employee names, and plug in some formulas to calculate social contributions and taxes. They’ll do transfers online to their employees, one by one. Some of them might even drive over to their bank to make the transfers,” says Kridsada Chutinaton, co-founder of FlowAccount. “They spend several hours a month on this and they still aren’t confident that their final figures are accurate.”

FlowAccount recognizes this pain point in the market and aims to address it.

“Most of our customers are new generation entrepreneurs who prefer to use online tools,” Chutinaton continues. “And as business owners, running their payroll is a headache. We developed our online payroll solution, FlowPayroll, in response to this. It makes calculations in essential salary items, generates important documents, and can easily be linked with online bank accounts to make salary payments.”

FlowPayroll is part of a suite of financial solutions for SMEs designed for easy and quick setup. Other tools include FlowAccount, a cloud-based financial accounting app, and an online credit application for GrabFinance.

 

FlowPayroll: An Online Payroll Solution for SMEs

FlowPayroll is an online, browser-based payroll program that helps business owners quickly and easily run their payroll. It also allows business owners to instantly see an overview of salary expenditures.

The main page of a FlowPayroll account is the Dashboard, which is a colorful visual summary of a business’s inflows and outflows. Key dimensions and numbers, such as salary or revenue, are shown in real-time using simple graphs to help owners assess the health of their business.

One of the most unique features of FlowPayroll is its secure link to K-Cash Connect Plus from KBank. Owners can use FlowPayroll to record their employee salary, and the system will automatically calculate tax deductions and provident fund contributions. Upon user authorization, the system then uploads required documents and salary amounts directly to the KBank payroll system. With one additional click, business owners make payroll bank transfers to multiple employees at once.

FlowPayroll users can opt to use its counterpart financial accounting solution, FlowAccount. Used together, payroll expenditures are automatically synced with FlowAccount’s financial records. The result is a more time-efficient way of to conduct payroll and financial accounting. It also gives an accurate and complete view of a business’s activities, so business owners are armed with the information they need to manage costs.

At present, over 10,000 businesses currently use FlowPayroll to pay over 70,000 employees.

FlowPayroll offers quick video tutorials as well as weekly free online courses to help new users get started.

Video: FlowPayroll https://youtu.be/-yojm8gBk8Q (Thai language)

FlowPayroll runs on web browsers, and 30-day free-trials are available at  https://flowpayroll.co currently. For more information, call +662026898 (Thai and English).

---

Founded in 2015, FlowAccount is an easy-to-use cloud accounting solution designed specifically for Thai small businesses. Our fintech software helps small business owners with invoicing, expense tracking, payroll, and reporting. Our goal is to make world-class software that helps small businesses save time, improve productivity, and ultimately increase their probability of success. 

Founded in 2017, Beacon VC is a wholly-owned corporate venture capital fund of Kasikornbank PLC (SET: KBANK), a leading commercial bank in Thailand with the highest mobile penetration and largest SME base. With an initial fund of $30 million, Beacon VC focuses on strategic investments in early to growth-stage technology startups covering not only financial technology (fintech) but also consumer internet and enterprise technology. In 2018, Beacon VC expanded its fund size to $135 million.

For additional information:
Ms. Saranrat Waikiat, Corporate Communications (Thai & English)
[email protected]
Tel. +66 85 156 5241

General inquiries:
FlowAccount Co., Ltd. (Bangkok, Thailand)
Tel: +6620268989
www.flowaccount.com

Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, today announced a program that makes it easier for Thai social commerce sellers (“sellers”) including small businesses and individual merchants to accept digital payments. The program is aimed at equipping homegrown sellers with the right tools to recover and grow stronger in the future.

Under the “Everyone Speaks Visa” program, Visa has partnered with leading FinTech companies in Thailand including Digio, KBank Global Payment (KGP), Omise, Pay Solution and 2C2P to enable sellers to accept Visa payments. This means sellers will be able to accept Visa credit, debit, and prepaid cards whether they are selling on social media pages, virtual marketplaces or live chat platforms. The program also welcomes large and small businesses alike, who are looking to improve operational efficiency and customer experience with the acceptance of digital payments.

Suripong Tantiyanon, Country Manager for Visa Thailand, said: “Visa has always been a proud supporter of Thai businesses large and small, helping them to grow through technology and payment innovation. We’re acutely aware that support is particularly important right now for smaller players, such as micro-merchants and individual sellers, as the ecosystem continues to settle into a new normal. So that’s why we are leveraging the power of our network to bring together leading FinTechs to help this untapped segment gain access to digital payment platforms that are fast, convenient and secure.”

In Asia Pacific, eCommerce orders for web-only retailers grew by 23% year-on-year between March 22 to April 4. At the same time, store-based retailers saw their online orders surge by 82% during the same period as a result of store closures, limited in-store inventory and stay at home orders.

In Thailand, a Study conducted by Visa found that more than half of Thai consumers (54 per cent) said they have a more positive experience shopping online than shopping at a physical store. In addition, 67 per cent of Thai consumers surveyed said they are likely to increase their use of eCommerce. At the same time, 7 in 10 (69 per cent) Thais admitted that they are less likely to go back to cash, even after the pandemic ends, citing preference of credit cards, debit cards and mobile apps.

In 2019, over 34 million people in Thailand purchased consumer goods online, with a total market value of around 137 billion baht ($4.31 billion). Of all the payment methods, credit card is the most preferred (32 percent), followed by e-Wallet (25 per cent), bank transfer (20 per cent), cash (12 per cent) and others (11 per cent).

From today, sellers will be able to begin a simple onboarding process through Visa Thailand’s website. Sellers will be able to select which FinTech to partner with and once necessary documents are submitted they can begin accepting Visa payments within one day. The program coincides with the launch of an online marketing campaign that will highlight the benefits of accepting Visa, including speed, convenience and security for both sellers and buyers.

To encourage sellers to adopt digital payments, Visa is giving a 5,000-baht reward at the end of each month to the top 20 new sellers with the highest number of digital payment transactions. The program runs from today to December 2020.

“While today’s challenges may be new, Visa has been solving payment pain points for buyers and sellers for over 60 years. Collectively, our business and our partners are laser-focused on leading economic recovery efforts in the weeks and months ahead, helping businesses and individuals everywhere navigate through these common challenges. These small and individual businesses are the backbone of the Thai economy. We believe in the power of Visa’s network as a force for good, which is why we’re excited to launch the “Everyone Speaks Visa” program,” Suripong concluded.

Communities are being asked to do something they have never had to do before, stay at home. In every country, this is impacting businesses and the entire economy, as sectors have shuttered their offices and turned to work from home where it is viable.

No group is being impacted more than daily workers across emerging markets in Asia, whose livelihoods depend on earning a wage every day to put food on the table, often working in manual labor jobs that they cannot do from their homes. As companies close to help stop the spread of COVID-19, these workers are left without an income, without social security, and without savings to last more than a couple of days.

One company that is deeply concerned about the impact this pandemic is having on daily workers is Workmate, an on-demand staffing platform whose mission is “to organize the informal workforce by connecting people to more opportunities, increasing their incomes, social protection, and ultimately their quality of life”.

“These daily workers are at the forefront of our mission.” –  Mathew Ward (CEO of Workmate):

“We also know that SMEs are being hit just as hard right now, and many are looking for ways to reduce fixed costs and move to more variable cost structures.  Many SMEs in the logistics or F&B space are essential to enabling the community to stay at home. For example, Workmate is now working with companies that are shipping equipment health and food products. So these daily workers are providing for their own family and the families of the millions of households that are practicing social distancing”

Workmate is in a unique position to help here, as the platform gives businesses the ability to increase manpower on the days they are busy, and reduce manpower on the slow days, and it is done by distributing work intelligently across our network of daily workers.

“We can help businesses reduce fixed costs, and help workers get access to more work. Therefore, we have decided to give SME’s access to the Workmate platform for FREE until June 30th. This means any SME who uses the Workmate platform and pays with a credit card, will only need to pay the workers costs, with zero Workmate fees.

It is our small way of helping two of the groups hit the hardest during this pandemic. We hope that this small gesture can go some way to helping small businesses and at the same time give more opportunities to the daily workers who need it most.”.

Click here to get started: https://hubs.ly/H0pfvWQ0

For more information call: 098 926 9357

www.workmate.asia/th

During this inconvenience due to the spread of COVID-19, many industries have been affected greatly and as a result, many event organizers have already had an impact on their events being cancelled which lead to chargebacks. In light of these events, Eventpop has launched a new feature called “Online Event” in order to support event organizers, brands, and any organizations to host events in this challenging situation. Eventpop is still operating as usual and is always here to support our clients and organizers. Eventpop is more than willing to assist and provide recommendations to anyone who wishes to host online events.

Eventpop will be working in partnership with Pro Plugin, Frog Live, and LiveTube, the known experts in Thailand’s live broadcasting industry, to provide an advanced high-quality live streaming platform. Furthermore, Eventpop will also continue to develop partnerships with True Digital Park, Thailand eSports Arena, other business corporations, and studios that are equipped with live broadcasting tools.

Over the years Eventpop has been providing event solutions, ticketing platform, and collecting customer data which can be valuable to organizers. Eventpop has been empowering organizers to host more than 8,000 events in various types including entertainment, sport, education, and activity – all of which required a venue to host an event. As the COVID–19 outbreak shows little to no sign of slowing down, Eventpop would like to introduce everyone to seek an alternative way of hosting events virtually through Eventpop’s platform.

With one-stop operation service, webinars, workshops, live streamings, and virtual sport events are all possible to happen from anywhere at any time. It is the easiest way for anyone who wishes to create online events. In addition, customers who are interested in attending an event can simply get the access link by completing online registration and payment. They will also get notifications if there’s any information updates from the organizer.

Eventpop is highly aware of the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and strives to support and expand more opportunities to event organizers, brands, and any individuals during this time of uncertainty.

Organizers and media interested in hosting online events or have any questions can contact Eventpop at [email protected] or +66 (0) 62 593 2224 (and press 2 for call center).

Eventpop debuted its event technology solutions in Lao PDR at Single Party Chapter 3 music festival in Vientiane, the capital and largest city of Laos hosted by The PAS Project. The company is the first to introduce the NFC cashless payment solution which received a very warm welcome from Laotian event goers and organizers who are looking to up their game with new technologies. Participants in this event enjoyed various new technology-enabled experience including online reservation, speedy QR code check-in and Eventpop Photos – an exciting new feature that harnesses the power of AI and facial recognition to help participants fish out their photos from the tank.

 

A boutique MICE destination, Laos PDR shares borders with Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and China. This landlocked country is traversed by the Mekong River and is also well-known for mountainous terrain, hill tribe settlements and Buddhist monasteries. Laos retains many of the traditions, which attracts plenty of tourists each year. The capital Vientiane offers deluxe properties with modern conference and meeting facilities such as Don Chan Palace Hotel & Convention, Lao Plaza and ITECC Shopping Mall that hosted variety of events . The country has enjoyed economic growth driven by continuous investment in infrastructure, especially in telecommunication where 5G is being tested in certain areas as early as this year.

 

KASIKORNBANK (KBank) has debuted the KATALYST project to elevate capabilities of Thai startup firms determined to grow their business in line with KBank’s strategies. The initiative aims for business co-creation via knowledge sharing, provision of advice and support by KBank’s various departments and partners which will be conducive to business expansion.

Ms. Kattiya Indaravijaya, KBank President, revealed that most millenials want to start their own business as seen from the proliferation of startup firms. On the global front, a large number of investors and funds have seen investing in startups with potential. Though most of them have created innovations, more than 90 percent cannot survive and succeed. As new startups have joined the fray, competition has become tougher because existing startups, especially large players have formed partnerships and continually enhanced their potential in order to branch out to new markets.

Therefore, startups need an assistant who can be their friend, consultant and partner to help them expand their business and thrive. KBank initiated the KATALYST project to help startups with determination to grow and having business guidelines in line with the strategies of KBank and customers, as well as KBank partners. The collaboration marks an auspicious starting point to upgrade Thailand’s startup business. The KATALYST project can be comparable to a close friend who is ready to give advice to start-ups in various fields, including business models, an application of knowledge and technology and advice on business expansion both at home and abroad. Startups will have a chance to work with KBank’s work units, K Companies, KBank partners and Beacon Venture Capital which will provide investment funding to propel Thai startups toward success.

Currently, more than 600 Thai startups have registered with the National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) (NIA). In 2017, 31 startups received USD106.10 million or THB3.35 billion in venture capital investment, compared to 35 startups with USD61.25 million or THB1.933 billion in venture capital investment in 2018. The trend shows a slowdown, which is attributed to the fact that the growth of Thai startups fails to catch up with the market. KBank hopes that the KATALYST will help develop and strengthen the potential of startups to enable them to attract both domestic and international funding and propel Thai startups to the regional or the global scene in the future.

Mr. Supreecha Limpikanjanakowit, KBank First Senior Vice President, said that startups worldwide tend to have common problems in terms of business management. For example, they don’t have market for their products or services, lack funding and qualified team and face strong competition from their business rivals. Moreover, they struggle to manage cost and price, the quality of their products or services does not match the market needs or their management is not adequately equipped with experience in business and marketing management. The KATALYST project is ready to give advice to startups about these issues to ensure that they provide goods and services that respond to demand of KBank’s customers. The project will support startups with determination to grow further and not limited to any industrial segment. Aspiring startups can seek specific advices from experts from KBank and other organizations.

Startups participating in the KATALYST project will get an opportunity to make a campaign with KBank, which has a customer base of over 14.5 million. In addition, they will have a chance to bolster capital via Beacon Venture Capital Co., Ltd., which is KBank’s venture capital arm, and expand their business bases abroad via KVision Co., Ltd., which has been established by KBank as a holding company to invest in startups and explore innovation at a regional level. They will also have an opportunity to find payment solutions and experiment new technologies invented by KBank and KASIKORN-BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY GROUP (KBTG), namely FastPay solution, FlowAccount, which is a cloud-based accounting platform that can send invoices to K PLUS SME for outstanding balance payments. Aside from a chance to join study visits to leading companies abroad so that they can find guidelines to develop their products and services needed to tap into overseas markets, those startups will receive advice from legal experts from Baker McKenzie and meet executives from leading banks and companies related to their industries.

Mr. Thanapong Na Ranong, Managing Director of Beacon Venture Capital, said that Beacon VC, which is KBank’s venture capital arm, is ready to invest in startups having potential to create financial innovations and new forms of technology that are consistent with and capable of facilitating KBank’s strategies in an efficient and effective manner. In so doing, Beacon VC will assist and support startups participating in the KATALYST project through investment advice. This project will be another channel for Beacon VC to find seed funding for new startups in our portfolio. Beacon VC has already invested in seven companies, namely FlowAccount, Ookbee, Eventpop, Grab, InstaReM, Jitta and Horganice. We expect to invest in 2-3 startups per year from the KATALYST project in the future.

---

Also in:

Techsauce (English), The Nation (English), Money & Banking (Thai), Brand Inside (Thai), Blognone (Thai), Prachachat (Thai), Positioning (Thai)