The winner of GSB SMEs Startup Contest is Space Walker Team, who has been awarded 1 million Baht by Government Savings Bank (GSB). The ten final teams will also participate in a study trip to Hokkaido, Japan on November 8-13.
Mr. Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, President & CEO of Government Savings Bank (GSB), said the bank has organized GSB SMEs Startup Contest under the concept of SMEs Startup Wow! “Get Started, Fast & Possible,” for the 6th consecutive year to support new generations, SMEs or startups aged below 35 years old to introduce their creative business ideas to win prizes worth over 3 million Baht. A total of 1,028 entries were accepted from May 7 to August 10, and the winners have been finally selected. The grand prize winner, Space Walker Team, has been awarded an initial fund worth 1 million Baht; the first runner-up, Bioform Team, has received 500,000 Baht; and the two second runners-up, LILUNA Team have obtained 200,000 Baht each. Plus, 100,000 Baht each for seven honourable mention prizes (up from formerly 50,000 Baht). Additionally, three teams that won Best Innovation Prototype award have received 50,000 Baht each, three winners of Best Innovation Idea have been granted 30,000 Baht each.
“This year, GSB SMEs Startup Contest lasts about six months, from the launch date to the winner announcement. Apart from receiving an initial fund, the ten finalists have joined Outing Startup Programme to enhance experiences and get ready to be entrepreneurs through a study trip to Hokkaido, Japan during November 8-13. GSB is committed to supporting the new generation by allowing these young talents to gain valuable experiences through the contest and successfully build their startup business in the future. The ten finalists selected from 1,028 participating teams have presented excellent ideas and projects. We hope that each team will soon find out their strengths and uniqueness, and achieve their business goals,” said GSB President & CEO.
GSB SMEs Startup Contest is a stage of opportunities as GSB aims to support new generations who have creative, outstanding and different business idea to showcase their works. Not only the fund, but also the knowledge of business was given, along with workshop for the 100 finalists, and Coaching Day for the last 10 finalists. To prepare the readiness to be entrepreneurs, GSB invited the leading 'new wave' businessmen and other business professions to lecture, to share their experience, and, as well, to train and give advices for strategic formulation, and further, supervise the readiness to be the entrepreneur to each team. Moreover, this year, the contest emphasized the creativity and innovation to drive the country’s economy as per the government’s Thailand 4.0 policy.
“GSB is ready to offer all supports to these future entrepreneurs through our incubation process, access to our loan services, business matching which can lead to business partnership as well as joint venture through the bank’s venture capital and loan. We have allocated 2 billion Baht for venture capital budget,” added GSB President & CEO.
Winners of GSB SMEs Startup Contest are as follows:
Grand Prize, receiving 1,000,000 Baht: Space Walker Team, Space Walker project: A newly invented walking aid device, suitable for patients undergoing physical rehabilitation and elderly people. This is Thailand’s first dynamic body weight support device that features a simple and compact design but it is very practical and effective.
First runner-up, receiving 500,000 Baht: Bioform Team, Bioform project: 100% natural material made from cane sugar can replace plastic material, and thus helps reduce plastic wastes and protect environment and people’s health.
Second runner-up, receiving 200,000 Baht: LILUNA Team, LILUNA project: LILUNA Online Platform connects car owners and drivers to passengers who do not have a car but share the same travel path during the same time period, enabling them to share travel costs, build ride-sharing community and reduce traffic jams.
Third runners-up, 7 prizes, receiving 100,000 Baht each:
Xentrack Team, Xentrack project: Products that leverage IoT (Internet of Thing) and workplace solutions along with Beacon or Bluetooth low energy 4.0 (BLE 4.0) Indoor Location Tracking to locate staff and assets in buildings
DifferSheet Team, DifferSheet project: Digital notepad that helps improve thinking, reading and writing skills as well as soft skills for Thai kids
VenueE Team, VenueE project: Online channel for searching and booking conference rooms and event spaces, facilitating both potential renters and space owners
Orgafeed Team, Alternative protein for animal feed project: Introducing insects into animal feed manufacturing chain in Thailand
FARMTO Team, FARMTO project: A system that connects farmers and consumers, encouraging farmers to use their specializations for adding value to their products
ENRES Team, Power consumption analysis and optimization project: Aimed at reducing energy cost for buildings, ENRES power data management system offers various capabilities such as measuring and recording values from meters and IoT sensors, notifying about abnormalities, automatically analyzing and controlling with artificial intelligence (AI).
TIE SMART SOLUTIONS Team, AI Platform for Energy Loss Diagnostics of Chiller Air-Conditioning Systems project: Developing intelligent platform that automatically diagnosing energy loss in air-conditioning systems by using machine learning algorithm and mathematical simulation based on big data from testing of large air-conditioning systems
This year, there are two additional categories:
Best Innovation Prototype, receiving 50,000 Baht each:
-InnoEdge Care Team, UrinO'meter project
-CHIKCHIC Team, Chikchic smart chicken farm project
-Wang Team, Wang: Data Market project
Best Innovation Idea, receiving 30,000 Baht each:
-Team Longtumdo, Carekhun: Smart Homecare and Insurance project
-Team Pharmarget, Pharmarget project
-Team BedBaker - Hotel Ecosystem, BedBaker: hotel ecosystem management project
For more information and contest updates, please visit www.gsb100tomillion.com or www.facebook.com/gsb100tomillion.