Amity Solutions mulls IPO for funding

Amity, a local tech startup specialising in social features for applications, is considering listing its new subsidiary Amity Solutions in Thailand or Singapore next year to mobilise funds as it seeks to become a leading generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) platform in Southeast Asia.

Korawad Chearavanont, Amity's founder and chief executive, said Amity Solutions will focus on delivering services through products and solutions that are powered by GPT artificial intelligence (AI).

"The company is well positioned to ride the GPT technology wave," he said.

Funds raised through an initial public offering (IPO) in the stock market would be used for further training and development of its team's technological capabilities, said Mr Korawad.

Aiming to become the leading software as a service (SaaS) provider in the region, Amity Solutions' core business includes leveraging AI technology in the workforce, especially in management operations.

Services offered by the subsidiary include Amity's original product Eko, an automation and engagement platform, and Amity Bots chatbots.

"GPT technology is the next computing revolution that will transform the way corporations and people work. That's why we are pivoting the business to this area," he said.

Touchapon Kraisingkorn, chief technology officer and co-founder of Amity, said GPT technology is classified as generative AI because it can generate new information.

"GPT technology, which is pre-trained by developers, can enhance operational efficiency among businesses," he said.

"The technology can also be used to help summarise lengthy data reports or help retailers plan sales targets."

Lionel Chin, managing director of Amity Solutions, said the GPT technology is estimated to trim operational costs by up to 60%.

Among the sectors that use Amity's services are government, banking, fast-moving consumer goods and telecom.

Launched in early 2021 as an internal project, Amity Social Cloud, a software development kit (SDK) instant product, provides social features to create engagement and revenue for enterprises.

The company saw the potential in the SaaS business as most apps lack social features and there is a global market opportunity for SDK players who provide services that enable social features and in-app communities.

For the global market, monthly active users of this product grew from 30,000 at the beginning of last year to more than 1.1 million last month, mainly in Europe and the US.

Mr Korawad said Amity plans to list on the NASDAQ Index within five years.

Instead of raising funds through venture capital as originally planned, the company opted for an IPO in the stock market because of promising valuations among listed technology companies, he said.