As we usher into the new year, we sought insights from prominent figures across the Southeast Asian tech landscape. These leaders reflected on their triumphs in 2025, sharing valuable perspectives on their achievements and the challenges they overcame.
They also unveiled their ambitious aspirations, meticulously outlined their strategic plans for 2026, and offered insightful predictions on the trajectory of the tech industry in the new year.
We talked to Tanachai Kulsomboonsin, CEO and Co-founder at Canvas Ventures International, to learn more about the VC firm’s achievements in 2025 and its plans and aspirations for 2026. He also shared his views on the outlook of tech ecosystem in Thailand for 2026.
Bangkok-based Canvas Ventures is a multi-family venture capital office acting as a regional powerhouse at the heart of Southeast Asia’s booming startup ecosystem.
How was Canvas Ventures International’s 2025?
2025 was the year our blueprint was validated. We successfully transitioned from a traditional venture capital model into a Multi-Family Venture Capital Office (MFVCO) — proving that we don’t just participate in ecosystems; we engineer them. Our core thesis was validated: Soft Infrastructure drives Hard Capital. Community, policy, and narrative are alpha-generating infrastructure.
Canvas Forum 2025 convened 600+ participants and generated 60 curated investment matches, achieving approximately a 60% conversion rate from match to term sheet negotiations. This demonstrated that structured ecosystem design can convert into measurable commercial outcomes.
Asset Class Creation — The Peach Economy
We advanced asset class formation through the validation of the Peach Economy (Pink + Orange) as a cohesive, scalable, and investable theme. In 2025, we built a 7-startup cohort under the Peach Economy thesis — 3 from the Orange Economy and 4 from the Pink Economy.
This cohort served as live proof points that the convergence of creative, cultural, and identity-driven markets can generate institutional-grade investment pipelines.
Policy & Institutional Impact
We leveraged the January 2025 Marriage Equality Act to unlock what we call Pink Alpha Arbitrage. We also published the PinkTech Report 2025, establishing the data infrastructure behind the thesis and strengthening ecosystem legitimacy. The momentum contributed to the formation of a Pink Economy working group within the Senate — shifting the conversation from advocacy to institutional agenda. 2025 was not just productive. It was structural.
What are your expectations and aspirations for 2026?
2026 is the year the platform scales. We are evolving from foundation-building to a dual strategy framework:
Hyper-Localization – We are intentionally building depth in regional innovation hubs — including Chiang Mai (creative & cultural capital), Khon Kaen (emerging regional enterprise hub), and the EEC (industrial & advanced tech corridor). These ecosystems represent differentiated value pools. Rather than centralizing deal flow in Bangkok, we are decentralizing alpha creation.
Global Integration – At the same time, we are connecting international LPs to proprietary Thai deal flow — positioning Thailand not as a peripheral market, but as a thematic platform economy. Our ambition is to build the operating system for Thailand’s next economy — scaling our validated model into a $90M institutional-grade platform.
What are Canvas Ventures’ plans and focus in 2026?
In 2026, we operationalize the CVI Flywheel — a Structural Alpha Loop. We do not just source deals. We build ecosystems that generate them.
1. Signal & Access
Canvas Forum ’26, alongside continued ecosystem-level research and PinkTech Report announcements, functions as our signal layer within the broader national ecosystem.
2. Origination &Validation
Through Spectrum Labs, we vet and co-build ventures in partnership with universities and regional institutions, structurally reducing risk before capital deployment.
3. Deployment & Scaling
Pink Fund and Asian Pixel deploy capital into validated, de-risked opportunities — accelerating institutional scalability and compounding alpha across cycles.
How do you see the outlook for Thailand’s tech ecosystem in 2026?
2026 will mark a structural reset. The ecosystem is transitioning from capital-driven momentum to infrastructure-driven resilience.
Three shifts define the year:
1. Regionalization of Alpha
Innovation will increasingly emerge from cities like Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen, alongside industrial transformation in the EEC. The next wave of growth will be geographically distributed, not centralized.
2. Institutional Globalization
International investors remain interested in Thailand, but durable capital requires validated pipeline infrastructure.
3. Asset Class Formation
Themes such as the Peach Economy and PinkTech ecosystem are maturing into institutional-grade investment narratives.
2026 may not be the year of the largest liquidity spike but it will be the year Thailand begins architecting its own capital structure. We don’t just find deals. We are building the operating system for Thailand’s Next Economy.