Natavudh Pungcharoenpong

Natavudh Pungcharoenpong is the mastermind behind digital magazine platform and e-book store Ookbee. Just before the iPad was released in Thailand, he recognized the niche for an e-book platform. Launched in 2011, it is Thailand’s largest e-bookstore with a marketshare of over 85 percent, with 900 titles (600 from Thailand), covering books, magazines and newspapers. In 2016, China’s Tencent pitched in to create Ookbee U, which focuses on building user-generated content. Additionally, it has funding from Beacon VC for its C Channel Thailand VDO fashion venture, which has over 250 million monthly views and 15,000 average views per clip. Now, Ookbee has evolved to a digital lifestyle platform. Operating in five countries, it claims to be Southeast Asia’s leading digital lifestyle, with five million users and 5,000 new users per day. The Master’s of Engineering from Asian Institute of Technology has also co-founded 500 Tuktuks in 2015, a local VC fund that has invested in over 50 local start-ups. He aims to invest in 200 - 250 startups, create at least three iconic companies by 2020, and have Thailand’s ecosystem be ranked the world’s top 10 by 2025. He was named Thailand’s “Businessman of the Year” 2016.