Three state-owned banks in July earmarked a combined 1.2 billion baht for investment in startups, says the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO).
Government Savings Bank (GSB), the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand (SME Bank) and Krungthai Bank (KTB) last month approved a joint investment in 44 startups worth 1.2 billion baht, said FPO adviser Pornchai Thiraveja, adding that before the July approval the banks had already invested in 11 of the 44 startups.
Four more startups won approval in July than in the previous month.
GSB and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) have jointly invested 2 billion baht in three venture capital funds, with the former holding 80% in each fund and the SET owning the rest, to invest in SMEs engaged in the food, IT and financial sectors. The first and the second funds have investment budgets of 500 million baht each, while the third has 1 billion baht.
SME Bank has set up a 1-billion-baht venture fund, and KTB earlier launched a venture capital fund to comply with the government's policy to assist startups in accessing funding sources.
Helping startups better access financial sources has been prioritised by the government, with Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak urging the SET to provide a fund-mobilisation channel for startups, leading to the incorporation of the Live platform, an over-the-counter market.
In another development, Mr Pornchai said that 32 investors signed up as venture capital (VC) firms and private equity (PE) trusts with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in July.
The VC firms and PE trusts will see their tax on dividend payments and income earned from share transfers waived for 10 accounting years.
Mr Pornchai said after the National Startup Committee meeting chaired by finance permanent secretary Prasong Poontaneat yesterday that 1,700 startups have already registered at the National Innovation Agency (NIA) through its website.
Four hundreds investors have registered on the NIA website so far.
Moreover, 155 SMEs and new startups sought verification from the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) in July and 100 of them were verified.
NSTDA verification is crucial for SMEs and new startups to be entitled to income tax exemptions for five years.
Mr Pornchai said 83 of the 100 requested tax waivers from the Revenue Department.