Type of business | Private |
---|---|
Founded | 2015 |
Headquarters | Bangkok, Thailand |
Area served | Southeast Asia |
Key people | Punnamas Vichitkulwongsa (CEO) Monsinee Nakapanant (COO) Chaiwat Ratanaprateepporn (CTO) [1] Teerawat Tilokskulchai (CSO) Seubsakol Sakolsatayadorn (General Manager, Ascend Commerce) [2] |
Industry | Internet |
Services | E-commerce, E-payment, Fulfillment and Logistics, Data Center and Cloud Services, Digital Marketing, Venture Capital |
Parent | Charoen Pokphand Group |
URL | Ascend Group |
Ascend Group is a privately owned e-commerce company headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand as a spin-off of True Corporation. [3] It marked its $150-million expansion by launching their affiliates in the Philippines and Indonesia, Vietnam, and also hard to reach economies like Myanmar and Cambodia. [4]
Launched in 2014, Ascend Group consolidates True Corporation's previous e-commerce and service ventures, in order to facilitate seamless inter-unit service. Ventures are classified under major subsidiaries: Ascend Commerce, Ascend Money and Ascend Capital, along with smaller independent ventures like TrueIDC and Egg Digital..
In April 2018, Ascend was at the centre of controversy as over 11,000 customers had their data leaked due to the company not protecting their users accounts correctly. The leaks included the ID card information of their customers. [5]
Launched in Thailand as a flagship business to consumer e-commerce platform, iTrueMart serviced an average of 14,000 orders per day in the fourth quarter of 2015. This put it a close second to Lazada Thailand in revenue and competed first for fulfillment options. [6] iTrueMart expanded to the Philippines last November 15, 2015 as its first satellite office, [7] initially serving the Metro Manila and Luzon sector. Services were launched to the island groups of Visayas and Mindanao on April 26, 2016. [8] iTrueMart is ongoing a rebrand as WeMall to also cater to marketplace sellers. iTrueMart PH ceased trading in September 2016 and has since closed the business in the Philippines. [9]
Founded in October 2015, Aden has served more than 3 million customers in Thailand. [10] Aden provides warehousing and inventory management. It manages warehouse facilities in Thailand. [11]
Established as the consumer to consumer platform to cater to resellers and small merchants, [12] WeLoveShopping houses more than 320,000 stores in Thailand. [13] It began as the flagship e-commerce platform of Ascend Group. [14]
Founded in 2001, Pantavanij was recently acquired into the portfolio of Ascend Group. C.P. Group, Ascend's parent firm, owns a 90% stake in Pantavanij with Bangkok Bank owning the remaining 10%. [15] It offers business-to-business services, with portfolios extending from consulting, marketplace and government services. [16] s Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, Siam Cement, and Benchachinda Holdings, PLC forms its core corporate client, along with parent firms of Ascend Group, C.P. Group and True Corporation. [17]
TrueMoney was launched as an e-payment and financial service provider, catering to the underserved and unbanked market across Southeast Asia, now serving Thailand as a flagship venture, with presences in Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia. In Indonesia, it has partnered with Samsung to fulfill its target of 7,000 electronic data capture (EDC) modules to serve the archipelago of 14,000, [18] and certified as compatible to Islamic banking laws by Indonesia's National Islamic Council. [19] Cambodia launched its services on New Year's Day in 2016 while Myanmar has partnered with Asia Green Development Bank, the same service provider as Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT). [20]
Ascend launched Ascend Nano in April 2016. It includes a nanofinance and microcredit structure, designed to serve the entrepreneurial grassroots, SMEs and the "underserved market". [21]
Ascend Group launched Ascend Capital as a platform for venture capital, investing on tech start-ups that can complement existing ventures and services. [22] Focused mainly on financial technology, e-commerce, CRM, cloud computing and logistics. [23]
Launched in 2003 as Ascend Group's data center, TrueIDC provides cloud data storage and computing service geared towards the service needs of Ascend Group and True Corporation. [24] TrueIDC now has ISO/IEC 20000-1, ISC 22301, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 50001 and CSA Star certifications for IT, information management and cloud safety. [25] It is currently in the process of expanding its data center facility in Hemmaraj Industrial Estate, located in Chonburi, Thailand. [26] TrueIDC also brings its global partners, notably, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Google within reach of Southeast Asian businesses. [27] An overseas expansion was started in Myanmar last September 22, 2015, [28] a first for the formerly reclusive country and owing to its recent economic growth as tight controls eased. Expansions to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines and Indonesia have been announced, but as of January 2017, no further news has been reported on these ventures. [29]
Egg Digital serves as the digital marketing and advertising unit of Ascend to cater to its market and services, along with the needs of its parent firm, C.P. Group. [30]
Capital A Berhad, operating as AirAsia is a Malaysian multinational low-cost airline headquartered near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the largest airline in Malaysia by fleet size and destinations. AirAsia operates scheduled domestic and international flights to more than 165 destinations spanning 25 countries. Its main base is klia2, the low-cost carrier terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. Its affiliate airlines AirAsia Cambodia, Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, and Philippines AirAsia have bases in Phnom Penh, Bangkok–Don Mueang, Jakarta–Soekarno-Hatta, and Manila–Ninoy Aquino airports respectively, while its sister airline, AirAsia X, focuses on long-haul routes. AirAsia's registered office and head office is at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Makro is a Dutch international brand of warehouse clubs, also called cash and carry stores. Makro was founded by SHV Holdings, a Dutch conglomerate based in Utrecht in partnership with German company Metro AG, with the first warehouse club opened in Amsterdam in 1968. Currently, ownership of the worldwide chain of stores is split between different companies like Metro AG in Europe, SHV Holdings in Latin America and CP All in Asia. In many countries, access to stores is restricted to business customers, and the stores are not open to the general public.
The Charoen Pokphand Group Company, Ltd. (CP) is a Thai conglomerate based in Bangkok. It is Thailand's largest private company and the largest privately held Royal Warrant holder of the Thai Royal Family. The company describes itself as having eight business lines covering 13 business groups. As of 2020, the group has investments in 21 countries.
CIMB Group Holdings Berhad is a Malaysian universal bank headquartered in Kuala Lumpur and operating in high growth economies in ASEAN. CIMB Group is an indigenous ASEAN investment bank. CIMB has a wide retail branch network with 1,080 branches across the region.
Bank of Ayudhya Public Company Limited, branded and commonly referred to as Krungsri, is the fifth largest bank in Thailand in terms of assets, loans, and deposits. Through its branches and service outlets are in Thailand and abroad, the company provides banking, consumer finance, investment, asset management, and other financial products and services to small and medium enterprises, large corporations and individual customers.
Viettel or Viettel Group, formally the Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group, is a Vietnamese multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam. Viettel is the largest mobile network operator in Vietnam. It is a state-owned enterprise and operated by the Ministry of National Defence, make it practically a military-associated corporation.
Tune Talk Sdn Bhd, DBA Tune Talk, is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) riding on the network of Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad. Tune Talk entered into an MVNO agreement with Celcom in December 2008. Tune Talk appointed Ameen Amaendran Abdullah as their CEO in 2018, taking over from Jason Lo who is credited with developing the company to its modern state.
Suphachai Chearavanont is a Thai business executive currently serving as CEO of C.P. Group, a multinational conglomerate. Also chairman of telecommunications company True Corporation, he was the CEO of True Corporation from 1999 until 2017, when he was named C.P. Group's chief executive. Also a vice chairman at Charoen Pokphand Foods and CP ALL, he is a director at companies such as TrueMove and TrueVisions. Also he is a chairman of CP Axtra, Retail e-commerce and wholesale business.
E-commerce or electric commerce in Southeast Asia is the buying and selling of products and services over the internet in the countries of Southeast Asia. These practices reached Southeast Asia during the dot-com mania in the 1990s. After the dot-com bust, local e-companies have seen promising growth in this sector.
Foodpanda is an online food and grocery delivery platform owned by Berlin-based Delivery Hero. Foodpanda operates as the lead brand for Delivery Hero in Asia, with its headquarters in Singapore. It is currently the largest food and grocery delivery platform in Asia, outside of China, operating in 12 markets across Asia.
Priceza is a shopping search engine and price comparison tool, with local websites in six Southeast Asian countries:
Grab Holdings Inc. is a Southeast Asian multinational technology company headquartered in Singapore and Indonesia. It is the developer of a super-app for transportation, food delivery and digital payments services on mobile devices that operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
WhatsNew Group is a Thailand based e-commerce company that is parent to multiple e-commerce brands which includes Petloft, Venbi, Sanoga (health), Lafema (beauty) and MOXY. The company leverages technology and the Internet to make home life and online shopping easier for people in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Bangkok, WhatsNew Group sells both international and local brands under each e-commerce vertical. It is one of the portfolio companies of Ardent Capital, a venture capitalist based in Thailand. As of January 2016, the company merged with Bilna, Indonesia's e-commerce platform for mothers and announced a regional rebrand to the name Orami.
TrueMoney is a financial technology brand, providing e-payment services in Southeast Asia. In Thailand, the platform includes TrueMoney Wallet, WeCard by MasterCard, TrueMoney Cash Card, Kiosk, Express, Payment Gateway and Remittance.
WeTV iflix, or simply iflix, is a Malaysian free and subscription video on demand (VOD) service focused on emerging markets. Its global headquarters are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The site serves as a digital hosting and distribution platform for Western, Asian regional and local TV shows and films obtained through partnerships with over 150 studios and content distributors globally.
Minor Hotels is an international hotel owner, operator and investor from Bangkok, Thailand with more than 550 hotels in 55 countries across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe and the Americas. The hotel group operates as a subsidiary of Minor International PCL, one of the largest hospitality and leisure companies in the Asia Pacific region. The group operates hotels under the brands of Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, Avani Hotels & Resorts, NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow Hotels, Tivoli Hotels & Resorts, Oaks Hotels & Resorts and Elewana Collection.
WeMall, formerly iTrueMart, is the flagship business-to-consumer retail platform of Ascend Group Co. Ltd., with presence in Thailand. It sells products including electronics, mobiles and tablets, cameras, home appliances, personal care and health and beauty products.
Aden Business Center, known simply as Aden, is a privately owned e-commerce enabler, fulfillment and logistics company headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, as a subsidiary of Ascend Group.
PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya Tbk or Alfamart is a primarily-franchised Indonesian convenience store chain. As of May 2021, it had over 17,000 stores spread across Indonesia, 4 million daily customers and tens of thousands of micro, small and medium-scale business partners. Alfamart also has about 1,000 outlets in the Philippines. The business was started in December 1989 as a trading and distribution company in Jakarta by its president, Djoko Susanto. Ten years later, Susanto ventured into the convenience store category with Alfa Minimart, with a first branch in Karawaci, Tangerang, Banten. Later renamed as Alfamart, the convenience store brand has since expanded to the Philippines, with its first Philippine branch located in Trece Martires, Cavite.
Traveloka is an Indonesian technology company focused on travel and ticketing. Operating a services website of the same name and based out of Jakarta, Indonesia, Traveloka is active in six countries, and in 2022 remained the largest online travel app in Southeast Asia. Founded in 2012 as a travel search engine, it now also offers services such as attraction tickets, activities, transportation rentals, and restaurant vouchers. It also provides financial services such as credit and insurance. Classified as a unicorn company and regarded as functionally similar to Expedia, in 2022 it was valued approximately at US$3 billion.