Singtel Innov8 assures Thai start-ups 

After operating for six years, Innov8 has three unicorns successfully exiting its portfolio, all based in the United States. 
They are Jasper Wireless, acquired by Cisco, and Rocket Wireless and Arista Networks, which both went public and listed on Nasdaq. 
These three companies were valued at more than US$1 billion (Bt34 billion) each when they either floated their shares or were acquired, said Edgar Hardless, chief executive officer of Singtel Innov8.
“We do not disclose the total investment in the total 60 companies. We have invested [for] the last six years. We continue to invest in the same places. 
“I have named our successful exits, money gained back to replace in the fund,” he said.
Innov8, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singtel Group, is a US$250-million corporate venture capital fund. 
“We are an evergreen fund, which means that any exits the company has, any companies getting acquired, we get money back, we put the money back into the fund to reinvest,” he said.
Silicon Valley has been building up companies for many years. The US is a big market, so it is easier to get big customer bases, he said. 
Ultimately, the unicorn start-ups coming out from Southeast Asia would not be just one country’s unicorn, they would be start-ups that have a great of number of markets like Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore. The combined market is big enough to create unicorns. It is quite hard for any individual start-up that focuses on one country to become a unicorn company.
Singapore has some unicorn companies, like Grab, which is based there but operates in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. 
“My point is that I think to be a unicorn-size company worth a billion US dollars, it is very hard if it focuses on one market. They need at least to look at the whole [Southeast Asia] as the opportunity,” he said.
The Thai ecosystem develops entrepreneurship in Thailand. 
Thailand is a decent-sized market, but eventually if they want to become big companies, they need to think about what market they are going to – around Southeast Asia, or maybe globally. 
More than 50 per cent of Innov8’s portfolio is based in the US, about 20 per cent in Israel and the rest in Southeast Asia. 
“We met some of AIS’s start-ups yesterday. We had a mentoring session with them. We were very impressed with two start-ups, and will follow up with them on how we can help them go regional, not only in Thailand.
“It’s about B2B2C companies that help businesses engage with consumers,” Hardless said.
One challenge in Thailand and the Southeast Asia start-up ecosystem is the number of experienced mentors. 
“AIS is part of Singtel Group. We build up the connection to Silicon Valley, to Israel, and we leave the development of the local ecosystem to our partners like AIS. 
“We are looking for start-ups looking outside. That’s where they can leverage our connection to Silicon Valley and to Israel to help them look at regional and global opportunities,” he said.