Thailand: InVent invests in Valley VR firm Social Nation’s pre-series A round

By Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

October 10, 2016

InVent, the venture capital arm of Intouch Holdings, has invested in the pre-Series A financing round of Social Nation Inc, a Silicon Valley-based advertising technology startup, marking its first investment in the United States.

Index Ventures, Virtual Reality Investment Fund, Greycroft Ventures and other strategic investors also participated in the round.

According to a statement from InVent, Social Nation will use the funds to accelerate its growth to become the premier virtual reality and 360-degree video advertising and distribution platform.

The three-year-old startup, with brands “OmniVirt” and “AdsOptimal,” is a 360-degree virtual reality advertising platform for brands and publishers. It claims that “AdsOptimal” has delivered more than 2 billion impressions of advertising last year and also enabled over 100,000 publishers to monetize their websites.

The recently launched “OmniVirt” is growing aggressively to a global scale, it said. Advertising on OmniVirt can be viewed directly in all major web browsers without the need to install additional software or application.

Prachaya Phaisanwiphatpong, Thai co-founder and CEO of Social Nation, said, “our VR technology helps advertisers effectively deliver their immersive 360-degree content to their target audiences through our extensive publisher network. With help from Intouch, we will be able to expand to ASEAN more easily, which is a very promising market for digital advertising.”

Social Nation received seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel and General Catalyst in the last round of financing.

Social Nation is InVent’s 10th portfolio company and its first investment in the United States. The previous investments include local business review portal Wongnai, golf-course booking platform Golfdigg and mobile-first engagement solutions Playbasis.

Thanapong Na Ranong, vice president and head of venture capital team at Intouch, said Intouch will bring Social Nation to Thailand and neighbouring countries through our international alliance network.

Also read:

Thailand: Intouch Holdings considering fintech investments

Thai restaurant review portal Wongnai closes Series B funding led by InVent

Singtel Innov8, InVent invest in Thai social commerce platform ShopSpot

Thai golf-booking app Golfdigg raises $670K from VC arm of Intouch Holdings

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Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
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