To accentuate the vision “You Innovate, We Scale”, AddVentures funded Giztix in the Series A round, empowering it to Southeast Asia’s logistics leader.

On November 21, 2017 at Ad lib Bangkok Hotel, AddVentures by SCG made an official announcement about the direct investment in Giztix, a startup that offers a market platform for the logistics industry.

The investment of $1.65M or ฿50M from AddVentures established the Series A round of funding round for Giztix. The startup also raised from co-investments, namely Wavemaker and 500Tuktuks. More importantly, the event provided an opportunity for both parties to exchange information on the current startup ecosystem. Giztix team was led by Mr. Sittisak Wongsomnuk, CEO & Co-Founder and other members, while the investors featured many figures from AddVentures by SCG, 500TukTuks, KK Fund, DTAC Accelerate, and Mr. Paitoon Jiranantarat, Managing Director of SCG Logistics Management Co.,Ltd.

Section #1 First Series A Panel discussion

The event began with a panel discussion by Mr. Sittisak Wongsomnuk and Dr. Joshua Pas, Managing Director of AddVentures, involving the company’s direct investment in Giztix, a logistics startup who offers an online marketplace.

Wongsomnuk described AddVentures by SCG, his series A investor, that “the company does not only financially support our business, but also acts as our client. AddVentures feeds us with their valuable know-hows and experiences. To us, the company is more than an investor or a venture capitalist.”

With the mandate to bring in technology innovations from startups to build better solutions for SCG’s customers and provide resources and networks for the startups to speed up their growth in the region. Pas revolved the 2 main reasons AddVentures decided to invest in Giztix are because of the founder and its business model.

AddVentures targets to fund startups whose focus area matches that of the company, i.e. logistics industry. Following the motte “You Innovate, We Scale”, the decision to subsidize is not based solely on a strong business model. The company also consider startups’ vision and passion in business, as well as their solutions to tackle problems clients are facing. Everything AddVentures looks for happened to be in Giztix.

“They have the vision and have proven that they are able to execute it,” said Pas.

Moreover, the company is aware that the potential growth of logistics industry in Southeast Asia has been continually increasing, so the company would like to scaffold a startup like Giztix.

“We are able to prepare the startup to scale up because we have business partners and customers awaiting Giztix’s services across Southeast Asia,” said Pas.

Another interesting section is SCG Logistics x GIZTIX

Logistics operation is impacted by ongoing economic conditions and seasonality, causing endless fluctuations in demand and supply. The implementation of modern technologies to achieve a greater efficiency in logistics industry and satisfy customers’ diverse needs is SCG Logistics’s primary goal. The collaboration between SCG Logistics and Giztix can be spelled out in 3 ways

· Uber services for transportation — to outsource transportation providers during peak demand periods and transfer vacant fleet to join Giztix’s platform during over supply periods.

· Bidding platform — to minimize the amount of time spent on transparent and eligible provider selection procedure.

· Mobile application — to track delivery status.

“It can be claimed that nowadays IT has become the core of logistics management, and Giztix is the right fit,” stated Mr. Paitoon Jiranantarat, Managing Director of SCG Logistics Management Co.,Ltd.

Giztix aims to offer a more convenient and efficient connection among its business partners and clients after became a partner with SCG Logistics. Together, they can increase speed to the market which customers are exposed to new features and functions, as well as quicker services by virtue of modern technology. Also, create trust & transparency with every piece of information is traceable. For example, previous conversations or negotiations in the messaging platform can be retrieved, leaving no room for ambiguity. Last but not least is to optimal fleet utilization, headhaul/backhaul management must be applied by finding transportation providers whose vacant fleet runs on matching routes.

In the meantime, Wongsomnuk explained why he chose to SCG as a partner. “SCG has massive customer bases and a strong network of freight forwarders all over Southeast Asia. To join hands with SCGL, Giztix’s platform can acquire new customers quickly. Moreover, this surely builds trust and credibility with potential customers to join the platform in the future.”

Jiranantarat added that “SCG has its own Logistics Command Center to maintain effective operation of SCG Logistics”. The key responsibilities of the center are, primarily, to track current GPS locations of the fleet and maintain the punctuality. Additionally, the center acts as the Safety Monitoring Center to secure safety. The technicians at Logistics Command Center will immediately contact drivers to prevent accidents and damages.

“For the peak efficiency and the customer benefits after the collaboration with Giztix, the company looks forward to the reduction of transportation and merchandise cost. Ultimately, this will reflect on the improvement of startup ecosystem,” said Jiranantarat.

In addition to startup investment, AddVentures offers business collaboration or commercial deals to help startups scale up. The company sets aside money for the upcoming series of fundraising events, hoping to see startups’ continual progress. This is the philosophy AddVentures swears by since the very beginning “You Innovate, We Scale”. Once the decision to invest in any startup is made, those startups are considered as the company’s partners and together they grow.

For further information, please visit www.addventures.co.th and www.giztix.com