This 24-year-old has put college on hold to build Eko, a mobile-first collaboration and communications platform for businesses, akin to US-based workplace message app Slack.
Korawad Chearavanont, the scion of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, was 21 when he founded Eko. His father Supachai Chearavanont and grandfather Dhanin Chearavanont are among Thailand’s wealthiest men.
One might expect Korawad is under tremendous pressure from his family to make sure that Eko would be turned into a global success, but he says things are the other way round.
“I’m actually not under a lot of pressure from my family or peers, even my dad would tell me, ‘If you succeed, good for you, if you fail, good for you (either way, we learn)’. To be honest, there wasn’t a Plan B, even if I sometimes wondered whether we would make it, I knew I had to make it work and would be willing to do whatever it takes to push through,” he told DEALSTREETASIA.
Last week, Eko raised a $20-million Series B round led by Indonesian venture capital firm SMDV to boost its expansion in the West, particularly Europe and North America. The startup claims that revenues have more than tripled in the past year and it now has over half a million recurring paid users across retail hospitality, banking, and other service-based industry.
“Market share wise, Thailand [is the biggest], however, in terms of absolute size, the UK is fast becoming the largest with mainland Europe close behind. Considering current traction, we believe the US will become our largest market within six months,” said Korawad.
While Slack targets mostly startups, Eko focuses on connecting front line teams with each other as well as with their large corporate headquarters. It’s an uphill task because large corporates are known to be slow in adopting digital transformation.
“I think, naturally, there are a lot more moving parts and bureaucracy in large corporations, combined with the fact that each time something is to be pushed, the scale is much larger, this certainly significantly extends the time it takes large organisations to adopt new tech and change. In Asia, we serve companies such as TOA Paint, True Corporation, CP ALL (7-Eleven Thailand), Thanachart Bank, Telekom Malaysia, and hundreds of other small, medium and large enterprises,” said Korawad, adding that Eko has been cash-flow breakeven for the past six months.
The entrepreneur did not reveal Eko’s current valuation. However, the previous investment round, a Gobi Partners-led $8.7-million Series A, valued Eko at about $21 million. Korawad said the startup is still far from being a unicorn, but as the team focuses on building its product, culture, and revenues, the rest will follow.
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