Flash Express shoots to top of Thailand's VC funding table

The country’s first unicorn broke the country's VC record with a $445mn series F round in the second week of the year, tapping into robust venture capitalists’ appetite.

The venture capital (VC) scene in Thailand has kicked 2023 off with a bang, with a record-breaking deal sealed by the country's first unicorn.

Delivery company Flash Express' $445mn series F round on January 9, 2023 is the largest deal in Thai VC history. This transaction alone exceeded the total value achieved in 2020, when $430.6mn was raised across 24 deals (Fig. 1).

Venture capital activity across Thailand has been growing steadily over recent years, with total aggregate deal value hitting a high of $549.4mn across 39 deals in 2022. The record-breaking sum (7% year-on-year increase in aggregate deal value) contrasts with shrinking deal sizes worldwide, with a global average decline of 38% (Fig. 2).

Top VC courier & delivery deals in ASEAN in the past year

Within ASEAN, venture capital aggregate deal value also fell by 35% year-on-year in 2022. Thailand was the only country in the economic bloc to buck the slump in terms of deal value. Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy could set another record in 2023 if a deal streak ensues.

Since 2020, Thai courier and delivery companies such as Flash Express and Line Man Wongnai have been securing the biggest VC checks in the country. Over the past year, these have also been the biggest regional VC deals for courier and delivery start-ups.

Here are the top three VC deals in courier and delivery companies in the ASEAN region over the past year:

1. Flash Express ($445mn): The e-commerce logistics services provider's THB 15bn series F round on January 9, 2023, the largest of its kind in the country, signals renewed investor confidence in later-stage deals. In a Bangkok Post interview, CEO Komsan Lee outlined future funding plans. 'We aim to issue an IPO in the next three years, but we will also have to make the next round of funding before the IPO, too,' he said.

2. Line Man Wongnai ($255mn): Food delivery app Line Man Wongnai's series B round on September 26, 2022, is the largest in Thailand since November 2017, when logistics e-commerce firm aCommerce Group raised $65mn. The funding round, co-led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Japanese tech giant Line, values the start-up at $1bn, making it the fourth to achieve unicorn status after Flash Express, Ant Group-backed fintech Ascend Group, and cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub. Other investors include Taiwan Mobile, BRV Capital Management, Bualuang Ventures (the corporate venture capital arm of Bangkok Bank), and PTT Oil and Retail Business.

3. PT Astro Technologies Indonesia ($60mn): Founded by Tokopedia veteran Vincent Tjendra, the Jakarta-based grocery delivery company closed a $60mn series B funding round on May 30, 2022. The funding round, led by new investors Citius and Tiger Global Management, took total funding to $92.1mn within eight months of its launch in September 2021). Returning investors include Accel, AC Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital.

E-commerce boom

E-commerce in Southeast Asia is growing rapidly, which benefits logistics providers, according to the 2022 e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek, and Bain. The gross merchandise value of e-commerce in the region is expected to reach $330bn by 2025, an increase from $194bn in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of 20% between 2022 and 2025. A small number of major players dominate the regional courier and delivery industry by tailoring their services to specific local markets, pushing valuations of these companies skyward.

The opinions and facts included within the above do not constitute investment advice. Professional advice should be sought before making any investment or other decisions. Preqin providing the information in this content accepts no liability for any decisions taken in relation to the above.