Natsuda Pukkanasut opens the way for SMEs to access capital, sets a goal of helping raise 5 million in 15,000 years.
Natsuda Pukkanasut
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Investment Thailand Company Limited
Open the way for SMEs to access capital sources.
Set a 5-year goal to help raise 15,000 million.
“Our goal is I would like the general public with just 500 baht to be able to invest in Crowdfunding, but right now we can't get to that point because the cost of the system is still high. Therefore, we set a minimum so that investors can receive returns after deducting taxes and fees. Transfer In addition, Investry also has a policy to invest in every bond issued. Because we will not sell anything that we are not sure about.”
The outbreak of the Covid-19 virus has resulted in many SME entrepreneurs having to face the crisis. Even though the government has issued debt moratorium measures and low-interest loans to help SMEs, but we must admit that in reality banks cannot help all SMEs, which makes SMEs have to look for tools to access other forms of funding. To be able to continue breathing for the business to survive in the current situation.
bank finance Exclusive interview with Natsuda Pukkanasut, co-founder and CEO of Investry Thailand Co., Ltd., a crowdfunding platform provider. (Crowdfunding) has reached its starting point in the financial business line. and leaping onto the rocky fintech startup road With the establishment of Investment Thailand from the driving force that comes from the word “I want to try it at least once” to satisfy my deep desires. who wants to be a part of helping people Especially the SME business which is currently in a period of crisis.
Starting from the National Bank fence
Towards the establishment of Investment Thailand
Natsuda began the interview by telling about his beginnings in the financial field. After graduating from international economics He began his career at the Bank of Thailand (BoT), responsible for free trade negotiations. It took care of countries like Australia, Japan, and America. At that time, the BoT had never had a team in this area. This has made him a pioneer in this line of work since the beginning of time.
She has worked at the BoT for more than 10 years, with experience working in the monetary policy department, financial markets, and international reserve management. Until the time when I want to challenge myself And coincidentally, the world's leading financial institution, Goldman Sachs, is looking for executives to take care of the Thai market. That makes me think, if I don't move forward now, when will I go?
“At that time, I admit that I was afraid. Because working at Goldman Sachs and the Bank of Thailand are very different. But what I thought at that time was If you don't come out now, when will you come out? And the opportunity has come. Ultimately, I decided to challenge myself and resigned from the National Bank to join Goldman Sachs.”
Natsuda says that the first 6 months of working at Goldman Sachs were very stressful and challenging. Because the financial products that we take care of are diverse, it can be said that they have everything that customers need. This causes the need to develop one's own knowledge very high and must be done within a short period of time. But in the end, he was able to overcome the initial challenges and worked at Goldman Sachs for 8 years as an Executive Director, taking care of large institutional clients such as commercial banks. large business organization And it was here that her entrepreneurial spirit developed.
“Goldman Sachs has really cultivated the entrepreneurial spirit because working here doesn't have many challenges other than making money. All you have to do is Find products and services to sell Manage to make a profit This is an important basis for becoming an entrepreneur. That made in addition to greatly increasing financial knowledge. I also have the courage to invest.”
Later, she met a friend who was a co-founder of an investment company in Indonesia. and discussed many times Until being persuaded to set up Investment Thailand, which at that time was quite interested Because there are two sides of working life which are very different. But personally, she likes to work in a role that helps others and sees Crowdfunding platforms as a middle ground. Challenge yourself by being a fintech But they were able to help others gain access to financial resources.
By setting up Investment to answer the needs of her working life in three areas: 3. Helping SME entrepreneurs gain access to capital. 1. Helping find new investment products. to small investors 2. Opportunity for business growth After that, the outbreak of the Covid-3 virus made her decide to jump onto the fintech start-up road, founding Investment Thailand Company. Together with my close friend Worakorn Sirijinda in 19, we started with a simple sentence, "Now that I'm over 2018, do I still want to try tattooing?" It was a business started by two people, with a team from Indonesia supporting the system.
The financial gap never goes away.
Crowdfunding platforms can grow
Natsuda said The financial services gap has not disappeared in the past 15 years. Since her time at the BoT, there are still many businesses without access to finance. And until now this problem still exists. If looking at the ratio of SME entrepreneurs' loans to GDP in the Thai market, the figure is still less than 2%, clearly reflecting the gap in access to funding sources. No matter how long 10-20 years have passed, the same problems still exist.
Financial services targeting SME customers have been a large market for a very long time. And there has always been a gap that could not be closed. Due to limitations in the structure of financial institutions This is a problem that occurs all over the world, including America, Switzerland, Singapore, there is still this gap. As a result, there are more and more new funds emerging. Including investing in Venture Cap because at every level of business growth there are always gaps. Until being able to reach a source of funds from the bank Especially the gap of the SME business is considered a gap created by the structure of the financial system. That makes the SME market a very large market.
“We started investing in 2018 because at that time there were official criteria for obtaining licenses from the BoT and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). After considering for 2-3 years, Investry Thailand's first task was to obtain a license. Which I must admit is quite difficult. Because there is a relatively high wall But in the end, we were able to succeed.”
Natsuda recalled that In the period before receiving the license have collected their own funds to be used in testing the system and gave out loans of approximately 40 million baht with an average rate of return of approximately 14%. There were 2 businesses that had to restructure their debts due to the Covid-19 situation, but the overall portfolio was still profitable. Then on February 23, 2564, it received a license from the SEC and officially began providing services in April. Since its inception until now, Investry has been able to help raise 37.4 million baht, with a bond limit of 18.7 million baht that has been repaid, and a limit of 18.7 million baht of bonds that are under investment. Completed 40 projects, average rate of return is 13.5%
“Issuing bonds on Investment is similar to factoring, which is the transfer of invoice rights. Factoring is considered a pain point for many SMEs. Investment solves this problem by allowing SMEs to open joint accounts. with Investry and authorizing them to receive checks on their behalf or change the transfer account to a joint account This makes it possible to lock the money before it reaches the SME to pay investors first.”
Intensive risk assessment
Focus on building trust and winning the hearts of investors.
Natsuda said Investree is an online Crowdfunding platform that allows businesses to raise funds by using Invoice to issue bonds and offer them for sale to investors on the platform. Investry is responsible for analyzing the risks of bond issuers with an underwriting team that is as skilled as a bank. To focus on building confidence (Trust) for investors in the platform.
The qualifications for businesses that will issue bonds are: 1. Must be a legal entity 2. Have been in business for at least 1 year 3. Located in Bangkok and surrounding areas 4. Be a supply device of a large company, providing a loan amount of 50,000-5,000,000 baht per 1 invoice. Access to small and medium SME groups
In the risk analysis It will be operated with the same intensity as a bank. There is a look at the history of doing business with the supplier, checking past invoice history, credit bureau history, financial statements, bank account transactions, P.P. 30 form, and delving into purchase bills and sales bills. Because they want to know the true profits. In addition, they work with partners like 2C2P, which is a Payment Gateway system that has daily sales data. If the customer agrees, this information can be used for risk analysis. Investry has a dedicated team of experts in this area. Guaranteed by more than 30 years of experience in the SME market.
Natsuda explained that There are 2 costs in issuing bonds: 1. a platform fee of 3-5% that is initially charged; 2. interest that must be paid to investors, calculated at a rate of 6-26% per year. At present, the rate of rejection of bonds Requesting to issue bonds on the investment platform is at 50% because even though the SME has passed the strict criteria and inspections It is still considered a group at risk because SMEs are ordinary people who pay their bills slowly. The financial statements have not been audited by the world's leading auditing firms.
Therefore, when investors come to invest It has to be distributed across multiple bonds, with Investor trying to keep the investment minimum really low. To allow the general public to have access to investing in new assets.
“Our goal is I would like the general public with just 500 baht to be able to invest in Crowdfunding, but right now we can't get to that point because the cost of the system is still high. Therefore, we set a minimum so that investors can receive returns after deducting taxes and fees. Transfer In addition, Investry also has a policy to invest in every bond issued. If any bonds are close to expiration and not yet sold out, We will go in and buy it ourselves. Because we will not sell anything that we are not sure about. Investry has written it in the Fact Sheet to make it clear to investors.”
As for the criteria for investors, they include: 1. Age 21 years and over 2. Able to accept risks 3. Have knowledge and understanding about investing in Crowdfunding. If all of these criteria are met, they can invest in the investment platform.
The fundraising process starts with There are people interested in issuing bonds. Submit documents and has passed the risk examination criteria The investment team will submit an offer specifying fees and interest if the agreement is accepted. Investry will enter business information into a factsheet and post it on the website. Then there will be an email informing investors that There will be new bonds offered for sale. and invite investors to view the information in order to make investment decisions Investors will be able to choose which business they want to invest in.
“Issuing bonds on Investment is similar to factoring, which is the transfer of invoice rights. Factoring is considered a pain point for many SMEs because many large companies have stipulated that SMEs cannot use invoices for processing. Factoring by Investry solves this problem by allowing SMEs to open a joint account with Investry and giving them authority to receive checks on their behalf or change the transfer account to a joint account. This makes it possible to lock the money before it reaches the SME to pay investors first. The rest will be returned to the SME.”
This market is a beach, not a sandbox.
Set a 5-year goal to help raise 15,000 million.
Natsuda said Currently, Thailand has 5 service providers licensed to provide Crowdfunding services, with the latest one receiving a license. is Krungsri Securities Company The entry into the Crowdfunding market by Securities Public Company Limited is proof that This area is a beach, not a sandbox. But the next thing to think about is When the big one comes in What can be done to have tools that can compete?
This has led Crowdfunding providers to come together and send a letter to the SEC requesting permission for Crowdfunding platforms to act as Custodian of bonds issued by their own platforms. and would like to be a representative for bondholders in cases where the SME has assets that need collateral, such as directors wanting to provide collateral. This makes it necessary to have a representative for bondholders.
“There are public limited securities companies coming to play in this market. causing the competitive power to be unequal Therefore, what Crowdfunding service providers are requesting to the SEC is the availability of tools. equal In order to create fair competition, the SEC is currently considering this matter. We do not view this matter as a crisis but as an opportunity. When a big person comes in Just having the tools for small businesses to compete is enough. Because FinTech will help society. Costs must be low. To offer new and cheaper financial services to consumers.”
Natsuda said For that business goal Investry aims to be able to help SME businesses raise 15,000 million baht within 5 years. In terms of business, they want to have positive cash flow within 3 years, which is considered a rather aggressive target. As for the IPO, it will be reached. Or not, I haven't thought about it yet. But I believe that if I can systematize and create good products and services Focus on the investor and SME experience. Those opportunities will soon come.
“Of course, when we start a startup we want to exit, but if we aim to exit, it will cause us to not be good enough at present. Which from past work experience can tell that If we try and do that well enough Good opportunities will come to us.”
In addition, Investry will continue to focus on building partnerships. Previously, there was cooperation with Flow Account, 2C2P and Pantawanit. Currently, it is in discussion with the department store group. There are measures in place to help suppliers by creating alliances. This is an important plan to drive the business of Investry because from past experiences, Customers from partners are good customers. And Investment can be one of the tools to support the supply chain system of business organizations to be more robust.
Follow the People column in the Finance and Banking Journal. September 2564 Issue No. 473
In digital format: https://goo.gl/U6OnIi
