Mobile shopping app ShopSpot snags investment from Thai investors

ShopSpot, the Singapore-based incubatee of the JFDI-Innov8 2012 Bootcamp, has annouced today that they have received funding of an undisclosed amount from a group of angels and entrepreneurs in Thailand, led by Kris Nalamlieng.

The company received the investment in the midst of the 100-day inaugural bootcamp. ShopSpot aims to make “selling stuff as easy as sending a tweet” (see SGE’s app feature). Since launch, they have garnered over 1,500 downloads on the iOS. Within 12 hours, the app reached number five in its category on iTunes.

“The cash element of this investment will allow us to focus on shaping the great user experience that will make ShopSpot a leading force in mobile commerce worldwide,” said Natsakon Kiatsuranon, co-founder and CEO of ShopSpot.

“But this investment is about more than cash. Our ambition is to do for mobile commerce what Instagram has done for photo sharing and what Twitter did with micro-blogging. We’re at the start of a long journey and we know that the experience, contacts and advice that our new investors can bring will prove invaluable.”

Kris Nalamlieng is a serial entrepreneur who has founded 2:Spot Communications, a leading design studio in Thailand, and ARC Innovative, a mobile messaging company.

He says: “Our group is really impressed by Natsakon and his team for their creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, and their ability to convert conceptual ideas into applications quickly. We hope that our support will encourage more youths from Thailand to work with JFDI in the future.”

According to JFDI.Asia’s CEO Hugh Mason, ShopShop is one of the most focused startups in Southeast Asia.

“The rigour with which they have followed the Lean Startup Methodology at the heart of the JFDI bootcamp program has really paid dividends,” he said.

“They de-risked their proposition to investors, proving that they have a product that fits a large market need. This investment validates both ShopSpot and the method that produced it. We believe that this company will continue to attract investor interest, long into the future.”

ShopSpot is one of the first companies in Southeast Asia to establish an online mobile marketplace. Others that come to mind are: SnapSell, the winner of Startup Weekend Singapore, and BuyZell, which did a beta launch on 23rd April.

ShopSpot is the second company in JFDI.Asia’s startup accelerator program to receive funding in the midst of the bootcamp. The first was Kark, a children’s education apps company.

More coverage of JFDI-Innov8 Bootcamp. The Bootcamp is a technology startup accelerator program in Singapore (part of the Global Accelerator Network) where participants build a prototype within 100 days. Demo Day is on 4th May, 2012.