StormBreaker commences ASEAN’s first Edtech Accelerator Program

Disrupt Technology Venture, 500 TukTuks and Beacon Venture Capital has announced the successful graduation of the first batch of Ed-tech Startups at StormBreaker Venture Accelerator’s Demo Day 2019. Stormbreaker Venture aims to revolutionize Thailand’s Education industry and enrich society’s capability and readiness for the digital era. StormBreaker has set an ambitious goal of revolutionizing the education of 1 million Thais by 2020. Its first batch of Startups impacting the lives of over 150,000 students since the inception of the program. The program is confident that Thailand’s Ed-Tech Ecosystem can elevate itself into one of the top ecosystems in Southeast Asia and create a Thai born and bred Ed-Tech “Unicorn” within the next 5 years.

Krating Poonpol, founder of 500 TukTuks and Disrupt Technology Venture, explained that StormBreaker Venture stages incubation programs for operators in the Edtech industry, which stems from a desire to revolutionize the Thai education system by leveraging technologies in order for the nation to be able to thrive in today’s digital age. The first batch of the StormBreaker incubation program serves as a successful first step in ramping up the capabilities of the education sector to answer the global demands of employment in the age of digital disruption. Furthermore, the program constitutes a step towards realizing a goal through which 1 million individuals can easily access quality education and gain new educational experiences within 2020. With only 4 months having passed since its inception, the program has positively enriched the learning experiences of more than 150,000 students and laid the foundation to place Thai Edtech Startups on the global stage as members of Southeast Asia’s top thriving Edtech Ecosystems.

Mr. Krating stated, “The Edtech investment market shows promising trends which are quickly catching the eye of investors given its substantial growth. This can be confirmed by the amount of VC investments in Edtech which is greater than $9.52 billion USD, or approximately 297.98 billion THB. What’s more, this success was achieved from a pool of only 813 Edtech Startups and at more than 30% growth. Next year, 2020, holds true to this tend of growth, where global Edtech Startup investment is expected to exceed $10 billion USD, or 313.005 billion THB. In Southeast Asia alone, it is anticipated to make up more than 4.695 billion THB of the global total, with Thailand accounting for 156 – 313 million THB of this. The future of Edtech looks promising and is certain to disrupt and enhance large pre-existing educations sectors, e.g. English or other language training, professional reskilling, personalized learning pathways, as well as career accelerators. We are starting to see applications of deep tech, for example AI, Machine Learning, Mixed Reality, IoT, and Cognitive Learning find real manifestations in the newer generations of Edtech Startups. Thailand’s Edtech Ecosystem may still be in its beginning stages, but with such talent and creativity we anticipate growth of up to 100% within this year.”

Mr. Krating posited that StormBreaker Venture stands ready to act as the catalyst for Edtech Startups in propelling them to the forefront of the Southeast Asian ecosystem. Complementing the StormBreaker Venture program, one finds various forms of support also being offered by the government, including matching funds, which support Edtech Startups by providing funds higher than those provided to other sectors; the Edtech Marketplace which offers tax deductions for public and private organizations using Edtech products and services; incentives for pilot experiments in education institutions who support using Edtech in innovative areas or projects related to Edtech at all levels which can be classified as using online media to enrich a school’s learning program; and even lower interest rates for Edtech Startup loans. All in all, these forms of support are all guidelines that can help drive the education ecosystem to new heights as well as foster education innovation in Thailand through rapid growth.

Jantanarak Tuekaew, managing director of the StormBreaker Venture program added that the StormBreaker Venture Demo Day 2019 Batch 1 was a continuation of the 2018 Education Disruption event, which served as an important and successful first step in incubating Edtech Startups. Thailand and Southeast Asia’s first such program resulted in 4 excellent Edtech Startup teams which include:

• Vonder: A pioneering educational chat bot, which aims to revolutionize education for 70,000 students as well as some 30,000 employees across the entire nation.
• VOXY: A revolutionary system for teaching English online via clever AI, who bring to the table a new way to learn English.
• insKru: A uniting force from across the nation to enhance Thai learning and teaching by disseminating ideas to some 38,000 teachers thus enriching the learning experience of some 50,000 students.
• OpenDurian (Open – Watch – Learn) : An industry leader in online learning boasting revenue of 49 million THB, which aims to create talent and sets it sights on opportunities for some 500,000 individuals in anticipation of digital disruption.

StormBreaker has opened the application process for the Edtech Startup Batch #2 and will be accepting applications from today to 17 May 2019. For more information please visit https://www.disruptignite.com/accelerator/edtech-accelerator