14 February 2022
Bangkok (14 February 2022) – Krungsri Finnovate, a subsidiary of Krungsri Group, has joined hands with MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP), a corporate venture capital (CVC) arm wholly-owned by world-leading financial institution Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), to unveil the joint investment plan for the years 2022-2023, aiming to accelerate investments in global leading startups. Krungsri Finnovate is aspired to establish 3 new unicorns in the portfolio, and adopt advanced technologies to benefit Krungsri’s customers to the fullest extent.
In the previous year, Krungsri Finnovate has enjoyed the successful fund mobilization via Finnoventure Private Equity Trust I, the first startup private equity trust fund in Thailand that allows ultra-high-net-worth individual investors to invest in startup businesses. The fund has a size of THB 3,000 million with leading organizations and high net worth investors of Krungsri Bank participating in startup investments.
Mr. Sam Tanskul, Managing Director of Krungsri Finnovate Co., Ltd, said “To aligning with the goal of Krungsri’s operational plan that places focus on growth acceleration and building strength domestically and in the ASEAN region, the startup investment plan of Krungsri Finnovate for these 2 years will therefore target expansion on a global scale by seeking more opportunities to invest in startups with remarkable performance across ASEAN and the globe. We look forward to the opportunities to work together with these startups to generate good returns and take part in propelling them to the success of becoming a unicorn. Moreover, such opportunities will also link up technologies to develop our products and services on a continual basis.”
Mr. Nobutake Suzuki, President and CEO of MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP) said, “MUIP has made strategic investments in more than 30 FinTech or other startups in U.S., Israel, South East Asia and Japan and has been working closely with startups and other investors to promote business development in several aspects. Accordingly, forming a strategic partnership with Krungsri Finnovate to invest in startups this year will be a great opportunity for us to jointly search for attractive startups and expand our scope of investment. The collaboration will provide both Krungsri and MUFG with an opportunity to access advanced technologies and build upon product and service excellence to further benefit our customers.”
“Investing in global startups may not be an easy task. It requires an extensive and strong network to reach high potential startups worldwide as well as an appropriate size of the investment fund. Being a member of the MUFG Group is our comparative advantage as it enables us to gain access to these startups. During these two years, Krungsri Finnovate and MUIP have jointly mapped out a 1,500-million-baht investment plan with a target to create three new unicorns. We have a track record of previous collaboration when Krungsri Finnovate and MUIP entered into a strategic alliance with Grab Holding Inc. (Grab), a leading super app in Southeast Asia in 2020,” Mr. Sam added.
Over the years, MUIP has invested in several unicorn startup companies including Carsome, the first unicorn of Malaysia, whereas Krungsri Finnovate is the first corporate venture capital that has invested in Flash Express, the first unicorn of Thailand.