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US$7.4 mil funding brings Zanroo closer to unicorn dream

ID

2070

Status

new

Published

11 Aug 2017, 1:40 PM

Fetched

27 Jun 2026, 8:24 PM

Provider

Digital News Asia

Category

malaysia-tech

Original URL

https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/startup-scaleups/us74-million-funding-brings-zanroo-closer-unicorn-dream

Source URL

https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/rss.xml

Excerpt

Funding kickstarts high-growth phase and tech expansion Ambitions to be a global top 10 martech company Zanroo founders Chitpol Mungprom (CEO) and Udomsak Donkhampai (CTO) Thai-based insight discovery and marketing technology startup Zanroo is one of the fastest-growing startups in its industry; founders Chitpol Mungprom and Udomsak Donkhampai claim it is the fastest-growing in Southeast Asia (SEA). Zanroo, which was founded in July 2013, helps its customers discover actionable insights through real-time big-data analytics so that these businesses can make their campaign activation and crisis management processes more efficient and successful. Its customer acquisition in the last four years has been significant, certainly helped along by its bespoke proprietary technology. It now has more than 300 leading brands across various verticals, including banking, automotive, telecommunications, e-commerce, aviation and consumer goods. It is active in 15 countries: Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the UK and Thailand. On July 11, Zanroo closed its Series A funding, securing US$7.4 million (RM31.8 million) from a single investor, Shift Ventures. According to Mungprom, who is chief executive officer, Zanroo will use the funding to propel it further forward in its journey to secure a global footprint and become a unicorn. World domination Zanroo has big plans for global expansion but the founders do not believe they are overly ambitious. The startup is already in 17 countries, its current biggest markets being Mexico and Dubai. The next big markets the startup is looking into are China and cities in Europe, followed by cities in the US. Mungprom says that China will not be too difficult for Zanroo to break into because it already has a local partner that Zanroo obtained through its extensive network in Thailand and because of the good business reputation that the startup has cultivated. Though Mungprom declines to reveal the name of the China partner, he says that it is big in the retail and food and beverage space, and has connections with Alibaba. Zanroo is looking at an expansion timeline of two-and-a-half years, though Mungprom stresses that this timeline is just the first benchmark: “We believe that expansion needs to carry on for the company’s whole life. If you stop expansion the company stops moving,” he says. He elaborates that the funding will be used for two things - hiring people for marketing, sales, and research and development, and to improve on Zanroo’s hardware and software. Zanroo currently has 160 employees across the 17 countries it operates in. “The funding is only for expansion, so we are ready to move up from a startup to a corporation. We want to be the next company that people who come out from Google, Facebook or Agoda come to. We are ready for them,” reveals Mungprom. Though Zanroo is comparatively small, it is moving int