True Incube Joins Forces with 4 Global Partners to Strengthen Thai Start-Ups to Compete in International Arena

True Incube, Thailand’s leading integrated start-up incubator, has collaborated with 4 global business alliances; Itochu from Japan, Alibaba Group’s Ant Financial from China, 500 Startups from the US and AGW Group from Israel. The cooperation will be featured in the reality show “The Innovation StartUp by True Digital Park”, showcasing the real life of new-face start-ups struggling to build their own successful businesses in the global market and broadcast every Saturday at 11.05-12.00 hrs. until October 7, 2017 on TNN24 Channel 16. Itochu has so far invested more than 10 billion Baht in start-ups, while Ant Financial is the world’s largest investor in financial technology (Fintech) start-ups and 500 Startups is among the world’s top three investors which incubate young start-ups. True Incube and the four partners will continue their collaborations in other related businesses in the near future.

Dr. Teerapon Tanomsakyut, True Corporation Plc’s Chief Innovation & Sustainability Officer, said True Incube sets a goal to incubate Thai tech start-ups through building a supportive eco system that inspires creativity among new-generation start-ups and creates passion for them in achieving success. Providing basic knowledge as well as training courses in its incubating program, True Incube joins hands with four global partners, comprising Itochu, Ant Financial, 500 Startups and AGW Group, to support Thai start-ups to be competitive in the global market. Participating start-ups also have the opportunity to partner with other local start-ups as well as join True’s various collaborative projects.

The collaboration with the four global alliances is a pride of True Incube’s start-up incubation program. The four business partners will help contribute to the project with their strengths the aspects of;

• Itochu’s global trading experience. The group has been invested more than 10 billion baht in more than 3,000 start-ups in the past 17 years. It also managed to register five publicly traded companies in stock exchanges.

• Alibaba Group’s Ant Financial is the world’s largest FinTech investor from China with a total investment of more than 100 billion baht across world.

• 500 Startups is among the top three investors in young start-ups with a total investment portfolio of more than 10 billion baht in over 1,600 companies in more than 60 countries worldwide.

• AGW Group is an incubating firm from Israel, which was invited by the Ministry of Science and Technology to be the key arranger of the Thai government’s very own and first start-up incubating scheme “SPARK”.

Dr. Teerapon said True Group and the four partners have collaborated with each other in many dimensions, starting with the reality program “The Innovation StartUps by True Digital Park, which features the real life of people running start-ups and are broadcast every Saturday at 11.05-12.00 hrs. until October 7, 2017 on TNN24 Channel 16. The competitors will have a chance to present their innovative ideas to the judges representing the four global alliances, while the lessons they learn from the judges will serve as the bible for Thai start-ups in running their business successfully. Aside from enabling Thai start-ups to expand their presence in the international market, the four partners will be the key advisors for True and Charoen Pokphand Groups in selecting new business ventures to support and partner with.

“True Incube will contribute to the development of Thai start-ups with 4I concept; that is, Inspire, Innovate, Incubate and Invest. True Incube has a vision to help create inspiration among Thai start-ups to come up with new innovation and creativity. It will provide training and funding as well as the opportunity to be business partners with True and Charoen Pokphand Groups, which will support start-ups in term of investment and business expansion. True Incube sets a target to attract about 100 new start-ups into its program this year, adding to the current 150 program participants. True Incube is confident that the collaboration with the four global partners will fulfill the eco system for start-ups that it is developing and lay solid ground for local start-ups to achieve success in the international level in line with the Thai government’s policy to drive the Thai economy to Thailand 4.0 age,” Dr. Teerapon concluded.