Flash Express, a Thai logistics and transportation company that operates a door-to-door pickup and delivery service, has reportedly entered unicorn status after raising $150 million in its Series D+ and Series E round of funding.
The logistics startup plans to use the fresh funding to expand into more communities, introduce payments services, and support online merchants through loans. Earlier this year, the company launched in Laos, and according to The Ken, it also plans to enter Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
Though the company’s valuation was undisclosed, Flash CEO Komsan Lee said in an interview with Reuters that it has “exceeded $1 billion.” Bank of Ayudhya confirmed the $1 billion valuation making the company the first Thai unicorn.
“We will concentrate on our original intention to begin business expansion in Southeast Asia first. [The] COVID-19 situation may be an obstacle for us, yet we will continue to move forward with an expectation for a solid development plan in Q4 2021 after some businesses are launched in Southeast Asia,” said Komsan Lee, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flash Group.
The company’s Series D+ round was led by SCB 10X, the technology and innovation arm of Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank, with participation from Chan Wanich Security Printing Company. This round follows the company’s first tranche of its Series D, which raised $200 million, with PTT Oil and Retail as its lead investor.
The company’s Series E was its latest fundraising with Buer Capital, a Chinese VC firm, leading the round. The round was participated by Krungsri Finnovate, and returning investors such as SCB 10X, eWTP Capital, PTT Oil and Retail, and Durbell.
The company has announced in a statement that its Series D+ and Series E have given the company a total of $150 million in fresh capital. According to DealStreetAsia, these new rounds have brought up Flash Express’ total fundraising amount to $550 million.
Flash Express was founded in 2017 by Komsan. The company officially started in 2018 with roughly $12.8 million (400 million Baht). Currently, the company now handles roughly 2 million items daily. It also has around 7,000 delivery points and 27,000 employees. Within the next two years, Flash Express plans to hire an additional 10,000 employees.
Komsan comments on his humble beginnings: “Regardless of how poor you are, which surname you have or where you graduated from, you can become a unicorn startup if you select the right industry where market size is big enough and find the right niche to work in, and have a good team. Flash began its business at the right time when the market was big enough to support the growth of e-commerce.”
The coronavirus pandemic has greatly changed the way people all over the world do their day-to-day activities. With lockdowns and other preventive measures set by different governments, people and businesses have been forced to migrate to digital platforms. The trend has fast-tracked the digitization of numerous industries and Southeast Asian tech companies have been seeing impressive growth.
Flash Express has benefited from the trend of growth in the logistics sector and has just announced that it has entered unicorn status, making it the first in Thailand. With the upward trend in last-mile logistics, e-commerce, and other digitally integrated services, we will definitely be seeing a lot more unicorns popping up around the region.
In logistics alone, numerous companies have seen a lot of growth through investments made over the past year. Indonesian J&T Express has just announced its plans of going public with a US IPO after raising a total of $2 billion as of last April 2021. Earlier this March, Indonesian SiCepat also closed at $170 million Series B to expand within the region. In February 2021, Expedock also announced its $4 million Seed Fund to help grow its AI-enabled logistics platform.