Kasikornbank aims to support Thai SMEs to grow sustainably amidst the Covid-19 pandemic by giving out 1,000 FlowAccount software packages, with a total value of 3 million Baht, to KBank SME customers. This campaign hopes to boost SME’s operation efficiency and awareness of its financial health, thereby increasing the ability to access capital and resilience to tolerate future crises. FlowAccount is an online accounting software startup backed by Kasikornbank’s own venture capital – Beacon VC.
Mr. Pipavat Bhadranavik, Executive Vice President of Kasikornbank, reveals that the recent pandemic significantly affected Thai SMEs’ financial vitality, plaguing their daily operations and disrupting their cash flow. SMEs must be well-equipped with the knowledge of their company’s financial health and make an informed strategy to manage their liquidity. Kasikornbank is, therefore, looking to support its SMEs by offering an easy-to-use online accounting software so that the SME owners can be more efficient and managing their businesses anywhere and anytime.
Kasikornbank will give FlowAccount software to 1,000 KBank SME customers without any charges for one year, totaling in campaign value of 3 million Baht. Kasikornbank is looking to offer this campaign to SMEs in many industries, including but not limited to wholesalers, retailers, service, transportation, and communication.
Mr. Kridsada Chutinanton, Co-founder and CEO of FlowAccount, commented that Kasikornbank has long been the champion of Thai SMEs, allowing the bank to truly understand the pain points of the SMEs in doing accounting and the problems that lax accounting practice can create. FlowAccount is in the right sweet spot to solve those pains. The software is purely cloud-based and will help SME owners to do accounting at ease. By issuing or paying an invoice on FlowAccount, the system will auto synchronize the transaction and book-keep the transaction, then aggregating all the transactions into a summary that the SME owners can use to supplement business decisions – all viewable on the website and mobile phone. The software also shortens the time to do accounting and reduces mistakes compared to doing it on Excel or using pen and paper.
Mr. Thanapong Na Ranong, Managing Director of Beacon VC, further noted that Beacon VC invested in FlowAccount since 2017. FlowAccount has, over the years, always strived to innovate and develop new ways to serve the needs of SME owners. This collaboration will help the KBank SME customers do better accounting and grow the FlowAccouunt customer base. This mutual benefit between Kasikornbank or its customers and Startup is one of the many objectives that Beacon VC hopes to achieve when making an investment.
Founded in 2015, FlowAccount is an easy-to-use cloud accounting solution designed specifically for Thai small businesses. Our fintech software helps small business owners with invoicing, expense tracking, payroll, and reporting. Our goal is to make world-class software that helps small businesses save time, improve productivity, and ultimately increase their probability of success.
Founded in 2017, Beacon VC is a wholly-owned corporate venture capital fund of Kasikornbank PLC (SET: KBANK), a leading commercial bank in Thailand with the highest mobile penetration and largest SME base. With an initial fund of $30 million, Beacon VC focuses on strategic investments in early to growth-stage technology startups covering not only financial technology (fintech) but also consumer internet and enterprise technology. In 2020, Beacon VC expanded its fund size to $185 million.