Ecosystem Snapshot

Bangkok

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Bangkok is the vibrant capital city of Thailand, known for being a popular tourist destination. The city’s population, which accounts for 15% of the country’s population, and its significant urban sprawl make it the country’s largest and a critical part of the national economy. As the center of Thailand’s economy, over a third of the country’s banks are based here. Along with these financial institutions are a number of co-working spaces, accelerator programs, and universities that make it a growing hotspot for startups.

This ecosystem snapshot maps 267 ecosystem organizations actively supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses in Bangkok. 

Year of First Activity in the Thai Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

The majority of organizations in this snapshot began their work in the ecosystem in 2012 or later.

3 Key Takeaways about Bangkok

Top 3 Sectors

  1. Agriculture & Food
  2. Health
  3. Energy

Key Challenge in the Sector

18% say Lack of early stage investment funding is the greatest challenge.

Greatest Improvement

21% say Connectivity/collaboration among ecosystem organizations has most improved over the last 5 years.

Financial Constraints for Entrepreneurs in Bangkok

Financing for Thai entrepreneurs was identified as one of the top challenges by the organizations in this report. The top 5 barriers they highlighted are:

  1. Lack of business acumen or experience;
  2. Limited financing options;
  3. Lack of scalable business model; 
  4. Market too small or growing too slowly; and 
  5.  Restrictive regulatory environment

These barriers point to the need to focus on both supply- and demand-side constraints. 

  • The largest organization type represented in the sample is capacity development providers, which make up 23% of the sample.
  • 66% of organizations included in the sample are locally based in Thailand.
  • Early-stage ventures is the most commonly focused on venture type (78%).
  • Those that do have a sector focus most commonly target ventures working in agriculture, health, energy, or ICT.
  • Nearly half (46%) of respondents focus some or all of their programming exclusively on tech-enabled businesses and are most often sector agnostic.
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