Tại sao các startup Thái Lan lại chọn Singapore để mở rộng?

• Dù Thái Lan đầu tư hàng tỷ USD vào hạ tầng số như điện toán đám mây và 5G với 70 trung tâm dữ liệu được duyệt trong quý I/2025, hệ sinh thái startup vẫn chưa phát triển đúng tiềm năng.

• Giao dịch thương mại điện tử đạt 6.000 tỷ baht (185,3 tỷ USD) và thanh toán điện tử đạt 8.000 tỷ baht (247,1 tỷ USD) trong năm 2024, nhưng sự đổi mới chủ yếu đến từ doanh nghiệp lớn chứ không phải startup.

• Báo cáo mới nhất của Ngân hàng Thế giới cho thấy Thái Lan tụt hậu về sản xuất CNTT, dịch vụ số và đầu tư VC, nguyên nhân chính là thiếu chính sách hỗ trợ nhà nước.

• Startup thanh toán 2C2P, ban đầu từ Thái Lan, đã chuyển trụ sở sang Singapore năm 2008 nhờ chính sách hỗ trợ khởi nghiệp, và được Ant Financial mua lại năm 2022 với giá 590 triệu USD.

• Singapore thu hút VC nhờ khung pháp lý rõ ràng (luật thông lệ Anh, tiếng Anh) và cơ chế cổ phần linh hoạt, điều Thái Lan không có, như việc không thể dễ dàng cấp cổ phiếu ưu đãi cho nhân viên.

• Chính phủ Thái Lan vẫn ưu tiên sản xuất, xuất khẩu và thu hút đầu tư vào ngành ô tô, đặc biệt là xe điện, với nhiều ưu đãi thuế cho các hãng Trung Quốc như BYD, Neta và Great Wall.

• Meticuly – startup y sinh phát triển cấy ghép titan – cũng chuyển trụ sở sang Singapore năm 2022 để mở rộng thị trường Mỹ. Sáng lập là người Thái, nghiên cứu tại Mỹ, nhưng phải "xuất ngoại" để phát triển.

• Hệ sinh thái VC trong nước chủ yếu đến từ các ngân hàng và tập đoàn lớn, vốn bị chỉ trích là muốn kiểm soát hơn là hỗ trợ tăng trưởng và rút vốn cho startup.

• Roojai là startup hiếm hoi thành công tại Thái Lan, chuyển từ mô hình đại lý bảo hiểm sang nhà bảo hiểm toàn diện, dù gặp khó khăn năm 2024 vẫn dự báo tăng trưởng 49% phí bảo hiểm năm 2026.

• Theo SeaX Ventures, thị trường M&A tại Thái bị thống trị bởi các tập đoàn lớn, làm hạn chế khả năng đổi mới và cạnh tranh của startup khi phải lệ thuộc vào các "ông lớn".

📌 Dù đạt 8.000 tỷ baht (247,1 tỷ USD) giao dịch thanh toán điện tử, Thái Lan vẫn thiếu môi trường pháp lý và đầu tư mạo hiểm phù hợp, buộc các startup như 2C2P và Meticuly phải chuyển sang Singapore để gọi vốn và mở rộng. Hệ sinh thái trong nước bị chi phối bởi các tập đoàn lớn khiến đổi mới bị kìm hãm và khó thoát ra khỏi vòng kiểm soát.

https://www.techinasia.com/thai-startups-chasing-growth-singapore

Why Thai startups are chasing growth in Singapore

Thailand may be pumping billions of dollars into its digital infrastructure, but its startup ecosystem still hasn’t reached its potential.

In October 2026, the country will host the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, with digital transformation high on the agenda.
Thailand has recently invested heavily in cloud computing and nationwide 5G coverage, with 7o data centers approved as of the first quarter of 2025.

The country even has a booming digital commerce sector, with ecommerce transactions reaching 6 trillion baht (US$185.3 billion) and e-payments hitting 8 trillion baht (US$247.1 billion) in 2024.

But where are the successful startups driving innovation? And why does their journey so often lead through Singapore?
No government push
The World Bank’s latest Thailand Economic Monitor report says the country lags behind its regional peers in critical areas such as information and communications technology manufacturing, digital services, and, most notably, VC funding for startups.

Part of the challenge lies in the lack of government policies to support the sector.

“A successful entrepreneurial ecosystem – startups and venture capital – always needs to be catalyzed by the government,” says Douglas Abrams, managing director of Expara, an early-stage VC firm based in Singapore that focuses on Southeast Asia.
Expara was an early-stage investor in payments platform 2C2P, which has grown into a regional player since launching in Thailand. Today, it powers transactions for major clients like Lazada, Singlife, Lenovo, AirAsia, Thai Airways, Changi Airport Group, and luxury hotel brand Capella.
The platform was founded by Myanmar national Aung Kyaw Moe, who created his own company, SinaptIQ, in 2003. The firm developed a payment software that provides one-time passwords for credit card transactions for Thai banks – something still in use today.

A year later, he co-founded Paysbuy – a Thai equivalent of PayPal – which was eventually sold to Thai telecom giant DTAC in 2007 for about 200 million baht (US$6.2 million).
After the sale, Aung joined the Sasin School of Management in Bangkok. It was where he met Abrams, who taught VC courses on top of running Expara.

Aung wanted to build a new company offering comprehensive payment solutions for banks and merchants. Acting on Abrams’ advice, he relocated 2C2P’s headquarters to Singapore in 2008, drawn by the government’s active push to promote its enterprise ecosystem program.

“Singapore is the only country [in Southeast Asia] where you can get serious venture capital investment,” Aung tells The Business Times.
Singapore appeal
One reason foreign VCs gravitate toward Singapore is its legal framework. It’s in English and based on British common law, providing clarity and giving investors confidence.

“The second thing is that in Singapore, you can issue different classes of shares at different prices,” Aung says. “In Thailand, if you want to increase your shares, you have to pay for those shares at par value.”
Providing free stock options to employees is a key early compensation structure for many startups.

“You basically cannot provide incentive stock options for employees [in Thailand],” says Kasima Tharnpipitchai, head of AI strategy at investment firm SCB 10X. “It’s an ongoing problem that the government says they will look at, but haven’t addressed.”

Unlike Singapore, where digital entrepreneurship and VC are national priorities, Thailand’s government has historically focused its innovation agenda on manufacturing, export, and foreign investment, especially in sectors like automotive.
In recent years, this has meant an aggressive push to become Southeast Asia’s electric vehicle manufacturing hub, with sweeping tax incentives for EVs, plug-in hybrids, and even mild hybrids. This campaign has brought Chinese automakers like BYD, Neta, and Great Wall into the fold.

While these efforts have helped position Thailand as a regional EV production center, critics say the country’s heavy focus on multinational manufacturing leaves little space or support for homegrown, venture-backed innovation.
Scaling up
In 2022, Aung and his co-founders sold 2C2P to Ant Financial/Alibaba Group for US$590 million.

“If this was a Thai company, the exit would never have happened, because as a Thai company I would never have been able to grow the company to this size,” he explains. “Singapore is where the capital is, and the image too.”
Another dynamic Thai startup to watch is Meticuly. It was founded by Thai national Boonrat Lohwongwatana, a graduate of the California Institute of Technology.

After years of research on mineral science at US universities, Boonrat returned to Thailand and joined Chulalongkorn University’s engineering department. There, he developed a process for speeding up the manufacture of titanium body implants, including skulls, kneecaps, and hips.

Boonrat is currently in Boston, selling the tech to US hospitals. It’s already widely used in Thailand.
To support Meticuly’s growth ambitions, it also established its headquarters in Singapore in 2022.

While Thailand has struggled to attract independent VC firms, it does have several corporate VC arms operated by major banks and conglomerates. But Boonrat is wary of going down that route.

“When you don’t have enough financial VC [firms] leveraging your growth, then the country is in trouble,” he says. “[All] the bank-backed corporate VC [firms] want is to invest and take over. It’s not that they want you to grow and exit.”
One notable exception is Roojai, a Thailand-based digital insurance platform that’s quietly become one of the country’s most promising tech companies. Founded in 2016, it started as a managing general agent and has recently transformed into a full-stack insurer by acquiring FWD General Insurance’s local operations.
Roojai’s transition has not been easy. Group CFO Nicolas Fauvarque previously told Tech in Asia that 2024 was the company’s “worst year” because of one-time acquisition costs and heavy flooding.

Yet Roojai is forecasting a 49% year-on-year growth in gross written premiums for its 2026 fiscal year, with its Thai business already profitable and its EV insurance emerging as a major growth area.
Conglomerates’ role
In the absence of a strong VC scene, large banks and conglomerates play an outsized role in Thailand’s startup ecosystem compared to its regional peers.

For example, most fintech firms in the country are either founded by the giants or backed by them, as shown by Tech in Asia data. This dynamic can make it hard for Thai startups in the sector to compete with established banks in the country.

Local conglomerates also tend to dominate the exit market for Thai startups via M&As, according to Kid Parchariyanon, founder and managing partner of VC fund SeaX Ventures. This can limit innovation and competition as startups often have to align with legacy players’ interests rather than disrupt them.