Jirapat Janjerrdsak, chief technology officer of Siri Ventures, a corporate venture capital involving Sansiri and Siam Commercial Bank, said six startups will be targeted for a total injection of around Bt600 million in 2019.

The firm will also explore a new Asean ecosystem partnership targeting Singapore, by optimising local engagement in order to create sustainable partnerships.

The firm will set up the Siri Ventures Private PropTech Sandbox in order to provide various aids, including mentorship and insight from various business units, grants, lab rooms, networking opportunities and smart devices. It will also provide a co-working space to support startups in the areas of PropTech, living tech, ConTech, health and wellness tech and sustainability next year.

The firm moreover will utilise technology and develop innovations and solutions to support good health and well-being designed for an ageing society, green energy, sustainable cities and communities, and climate action. The aim is to create benefits for Sansiri’s customers and investors.

“We want to develop and utilise innovation technology and solutions to support our customers, Sansiri and shareholders and ecosystem,” said Jirapat. “We have also developed home service applications to support modern living experiences, such as the pilot e-Scooters project at Sansiri’s T77 project.”

The firm has provided mobile application to support its around 80,000 Sansiri customers, he says. About 25,000 users have download mobile application, of which around 15,000 are active users – and the numbers are expected to double through the next year.

The company also plans to invite Techmetrics, which is a Singapore startup that developed robotic services and delivery, to set up its manufacturing in Thailand.

The collaboration with Techmetrics will see a manufacturing pilot test next year.

Sansiri also plans to set up asset-backed tokenisation, voice as integrated lifestyle, artificial intelligence and augmented reality in the areas of construction and technology for the elderly as its next step.

The cosmetics specialty store is based on the concept of “Experience, Discover, Your @cosme,” was opened through the consolidated subsidiary, istyle Retail (Thailand) Co Ltd.

The company has set its future plan to open five @cosme stores in Thailand within the next three years.

The @cosme brand relies heavily on leading smart technologies. Merchandise is selected based on fulfilling the needs of customers through analysis of a word-of mouth-database and of the history of user behaviour on @cosme. It also uses IT to create and operate the sales floors, and has implemented ideas from web service KPIs that place an emphasis on frequency of visits and visitor counts.

The @cosme store Lumine Est Shinjuku, the first @cosme store to open (in 2007), boasts the No one position in sales volume among all cosmetics specialty stores in Japan. There are now 26 stores in Japan and seven stores overseas and the chain is committed to expansion. Compared to other Asian countries, Thailand has a large market for cosmetics and is noted for its high interest in beauty. Thailand’s beauty and personal care products market was valued at approximately Bt198.13 billion in 2017, and that market is expected to grow further with a forecast worth of Bt260.74 billion by 2022.

Attention among consumers who are shopping for beauty and personal care is shifting through multi-brand beauty stores, which offer the full range from mass to high-end products in one shop. In fact, @cosme arrives in Thailand with many locals already aware of the brand and its popularity in Japan. Based on these circumstances, the company aims to further expand the @cosme brand recognition even further in Thailand through its first store in Thailand at Iconsiam.

The location was selected with high expectations that Iconsiam would be a new landmark in Bangkok. The layout of the first store in Thailand leans on the knowledge accumulated in Japan. The characteristics of this store include a wide product selection from affordable cosmetics to department store cosmetics; counselling to address concerns about skin and makeup; an environment that encourages customers freely trying out nearly all products; and an event space that provides experiences that customers will want to share. As well, there is a play space for children to have fun while in the store.

The main brands available at @cosme store at Iconsiam include @cosme nippon, Kanebo, Lunasol, Anna Sui, Paul & Joe, excel, Flowfushi, Sekkisei, Kate, Neal’s Yard Remedies, Perfect One, Cher Couleur and Curel.

Charoen Pokphand Group has introduced a “Sustainable Packaging Policy” in which all plastic packaging is to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025 following the company’s 5Rs framework.

Suphachai Chearavanont, CEO of Charoen Pokphand Group, yesterday said CP Group takes seriously the major global problem of plastic waste and recognises the importance and necessity of tackling the issue. The new policy for sustainable packaging will be in line with the company’s sustainable business practices, and part of its environmental policy, and would set the direction and framework for waste management from the production processes to throughout its value chain.

As plastics are a key packaging material for numerous products, the dependency on them has led to a pollution problem that requires urgent solutions, he said.

The sustainable packaging policy is based on a commitment to protect the environment and to create public engagement aimed at positive behavioural change that meets the company’s 5Rs framework: re-educate consumers and raise awareness about plastic waste, reduce plastic consumption, recycle plastics, replace with alternative materials, and reinvent through research and development.

Visa announces stronger payment security plan

Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, yesterday launched its “Future of Security Roadmap” for Thailand, outlining a new approach for strengthening payments security in the country over the next three years in support of a cashless transition. Visa’s roadmap focuses on a number of key initiatives to enable security to evolve at the same pace as the technologies changing the way we pay.

These security initiatives include: devalue data by removing the sensitive data from the ecosystem and making stolen account details useless; protect data by implementing safeguards to protect personal data as well as account details; harness data by identifying potential fraud before it occurs and increasing confidence in approving good transactions; and empower everyone, including accountholders, third party providers and merchants, to play an active role in securing payments.

Suripong Tantiyanon, country manager, Visa Thailand said: “We are proud to be launching our Thailand Future of Security Roadmap. Securing the commerce ecosystem is our highest priority and one we view as a shared responsibility between payment networks, consumers, banks, and the government.”

SCB launches first mutual advisory chatbot

SCB Abacus and SCB Asset Management yesterday launched “Perm Poon”, the first mutual fund advisory chatbot in Thailand, with the aim of improving investment accessibility for customers. “Perm Poon” will be available on both the LINE application and Facebook Messenger. It will be able to address queries about mutual fund investments and provide instant personalised recommendations to users, according to a press release yesterday. Sutapa Amornvivat, chief executive officer, SCB Abacus, said, “Nowadays, we have seen the important role of AI technology in enhancing products or services to better address business needs across most industries. The development of Perm Poon chatbot represents another successful milestone for us in leveraging AI technologies such as natural language processing and machine learning to directly converse with users, identify their queries, and respond in real-time.”