Thailand's Leading Corporate Venture Builders Form Industry Network

ExpresSo NB, Betagro Ventures, ZERO TO ONE by SCG, Venture Lab by MFEC, VISUP, INNOPOWER, Cleverse, and InnoSpace (Thailand) co-found the Venture Builder Network to share practice, raise standards and widen access to the field

Eight of Thailand's most active corporate venture building organizations (ExpresSo NB, Betagro Ventures, ZERO TO ONE by SCG, Venture Lab by MFEC, VISUP, INNOPOWER, Cleverse, and InnoSpace (Thailand)) today announced the formation of the Venture Builder Network (VBN), the country's first collective body for the venture building industry.

The network will focus on three areas: exchanging practice between member studios, developing shared operating and governance standards, and building pathways into the field for founders, operators and researchers who have not previously encountered it.

Its founding members are among the most established practitioners of the model in Thailand. ExpresSo NB builds ventures out of PTT, with a focus on climate technology and artificial intelligence. Betagro Ventures is built out of Betagro Group, across foodtech, agritech and precision health. ZERO TO ONE by SCG builds and scales ventures through internal talent, with a focus on construction and building materials, green technology, and artificial intelligence. Venture Lab builds out of MFEC, combining business building expertise and technology capabilities to create and scale technology-driven ventures. VISUP builds deep-tech ventures out of VISTEC, turning scientific research into scalable businesses. INNOPOWER, established by EGAT Group, builds new businesses that accelerate the energy transition. Cleverse has built more than 30 companies across 12-plus industries since 2016 and now applies the same venture building principles to AI. InnoSpace (Thailand), a national venture capital and innovation platform backed by leading Thai corporations and state enterprises, helps high-potential startups and deep-tech ventures grow through funding, industry expertise and access to corporate networks.

A potentially better route into building a business

Venture building sits between two more familiar paths: starting a company independently and carrying the full weight of the risk or pursuing an idea inside a corporation with little autonomy to run it as a business of its own.

A venture builder offers an alternative. Rather than investing in companies others have started, it originates the opportunity itself. It validates the market, assembles the founding team, funds the company from its own balance sheet, and supplies the infrastructure an independent founder would otherwise spend years building: finance, legal, regulatory, distribution and access to first customers. The company is typically led by a founder in residence, an operator recruited into the studio and given a defined problem, a budget and the mandate to build a standalone business.

Startup agility, industry advantage

The strategic case for the model rests on a combination that is difficult to achieve by other means: the speed of an independent startup, paired with advantages only an established industrial group can supply.

These ventures operate as separate companies with their own leadership and decision rights, free of the planning cycles and approval structures that govern a large organization's core business. What they draw from the parent is what a startup most conspicuously lacks: technical expertise, supply chains, distribution, regulatory experience, and often a first customer from day one, compressing years of commercial development into months.

Executed well, the model produces businesses that move like startups while competing with the resources of incumbents. Executed poorly, it produces neither: internal projects with founder titles, or ventures that never access the parent's advantages at all. Staying on the right side of that line is precisely the discipline VBN's members intend to develop collectively.

Addressing shared constraints

VBN's founding members share the view that what limits venture building in Thailand is not capital or ideas, but the infrastructure surrounding the discipline.

The career path remains poorly understood, which narrows the pool of operators who consider it. Practice varies widely between organizations on operating models, governance and founder terms, with no common reference point. And the domestic market has yet to accumulate the volume of venture-built successes that would establish confidence in the model.

These are ecosystem constraints rather than competitive ones, and none is efficiently addressed by a single organization. VBN's initial priorities are to publish accessible material on how venture building works in practice, to develop shared standards among member studios, and to establish partnerships with Thai universities that give students and researchers direct exposure to the field.

“Building a venture is hard, and in the early days it is lonely,” said Kittisuk Panyajirakul, Chief Venture Builder of ExpresSo NB, PTT's venture arm. “A venture builder earns its place only if it offers founders something they genuinely cannot get elsewhere: real support from market validation through to fundraising. We believe this model can unlock local talent, particularly in climate technology and AI.”

“Our ventures move at the pace of a startup, but they launch with the supply chains, technical depth and market access of an established industrial group behind them: advantages an independent founder would spend years trying to assemble,” said Chayadhorn Taepaisitphongse, President of Animal Nutrition & New Ventures at Betagro PLC. “Getting that combination right is harder than it sounds, and it is a discipline rather than a series of one-off bets. Until now, each of us has been developing our methodology in isolation. VBN gives us a forum to learn from one another and to set standards that founders can rely on, which matters more to the ecosystem than any single venture any of us might build.”

“Technology-driven businesses can be expensive to build and slow to bring to market, particularly when founders have to assemble business, technology and industry capabilities from scratch,” said Chotima Sitthichaiviset, Chief Executive Officer of Venture Lab. “Our role is to shorten that journey. By bringing together venture building know-how, MFEC’s technology capabilities and a diverse network of partners, we can move from market validation to product development and go-to-market faster.”

About the Venture Builder Network (VBN)
The Venture Builder Network is a collaborative network of leading venture builders in Thailand, formed in 2026 by ExpresSo NB, Betagro Ventures, ZERO TO ONE by SCG, Venture Lab by MFEC, VISUP, INNOPOWER, Cleverse, and InnoSpace (Thailand). VBN exists to grow Thailand's venture building ecosystem through knowledge sharing, common standards and community.

About ExpresSo NB
ExpresSo NB is the corporate innovation arm of PTT PLC. Its Venture Builder team incubates ventures in climate technology and AI, drawing on the strengths and resources of PTT to accelerate the growth of new businesses. ExpresSo NB also invests in funds and deep-tech startups around the world.

About Betagro Ventures
Betagro Ventures is the corporate venturing arm of Betagro Group, operating a USD 30 million fund alongside a venture building studio focused on foodtech, agritech and precision health. Its portfolio spans 15 companies across three continents, including its own ventures Meatly, Foodium, blüüm, Talad and FarmTech.

About ZERO TO ONE by SCG
ZERO TO ONE by SCG is a corporate venture builder advancing SCG’s “Organisation of Possibilities” ambition. With nine years of experience, it empowers internal talent to become entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, leveraging SCG’s capabilities and resources to create new growth opportunities through multiple pathways, from spin-offs to businesses scaled within SCG. Its venture portfolio spans five spin-off companies, including Dezpax, a Series A+ startup, and NaYoo, a Pre-Series A startup, and six businesses integrated into SCG’s business units.

About Venture Lab by MFEC
Venture Lab is a venture building company under MFEC PCL, focused on turning validated opportunities into technology-driven businesses. It combines business building expertise with MFEC’s technology capabilities, supporting ventures from market and customer research, idea validation and go-to-market strategy. Its portfolio includes Talance, a tech talent recruitment; CrowdAbout, market and customer research; and ThaiGo, a Bangkok travel application for transportation & travel content.

About VISUP
VISUP is a DeepTech venture builder under VISTEC, transforming scientific research into scalable businesses. Working closely with researchers and DeepTech founders, VISUP supports technology validation, commercialization, company formation and growth. Through corporate and international partnerships, VISUP connects Thai DeepTech innovations with industry and global markets, integrating locally developed technologies into the global value chain.

About INNOPOWER
INNOPOWER is an energy solutions company established by EGAT Group. As a Decarbonization Partner, INNOPOWER helps businesses achieve their sustainability goals through smart energy solutions. The company invests in and develops new businesses through its Venture Builder approach, accelerating the energy transition by taking innovative ideas from early validation to commercial scale.

About Cleverse
Cleverse is a venture builder that combines technology, design and business to turn shifts in technology into real business impact. Since 2016, the team has built more than 30 companies across 12-plus industries. With the arrival of AI, the biggest technology shift of our time, Cleverse now applies the same venture-building principles to rebuilding established companies’ core businesses.

About InnoSpace (Thailand)
InnoSpace (Thailand) is a national venture capital and innovation platform backed by leading Thai corporations and state enterprises across multiple industries. It supports high-potential Thai startups and deep-tech ventures through funding, industry expertise, strategic partnerships, and access to markets and corporate networks. By connecting research, capital, industry, and markets, InnoSpace (Thailand) accelerates technology commercialization, helps startups build globally competitive businesses, and strengthens Thailand’s innovation ecosystem, with a focus on industrial sustainability, future food, and health and wellness to address national challenges.