Creden Asia Co, a local startup for e-KYC and digital signatures, plans to help state agencies digitise documents in a bid to eliminate 3.9 million tonnes of paperwork annually.
"In mid-2018, the cabinet resolved for state agencies to use digital documents for increased efficiency and to provide faster services to citizens as part of Thailand 4.0," said Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, chief executive and founder of Creden Asia, the only local startup providing e-Know Your Customer and electronic signatures.
Pawoot: Wants to slash red tape
Creden's goal is to use tech tools from local startups to slash red tape in government processes.
Creden inked an agreement with three state agencies -- the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa), the faculty of medicine at Vajira Hospital and the Land Development Department -- as reference customers to build consumer confidence.
Creden's e-KYC lets users capture and upload their national ID card to the system and take photos for identity verification, to be matched with images on file with provincial administrations.
The technology offers e-signature with time-stamping service from the Electronic Transactions Development Agency and secure data on the blockchain.
"The benefit of e-KYC and e-signature is that the process becomes 860 times faster with a 500% cost decrease," Mr Pawoot said.
Prayuth Siriwong, dean of the faculty of medicine at Vajira Hospital, said Vajira will be one of two leading hospitals using electronic medical certificates (the other being Chulalongkorn Hospital).
Pattaraporn Sojayya, deputy director of the Land Development Department, said e-documents will remove 20,000 pieces of paper a year and reduce document processing time from hours to minutes.
Mr Pawoot said Creden aims to have at least 20 state agencies signed up by year-end and enter the corporate market in the second half of 2019.
In the second quarter, Creden will partner with the Federation of Thai Industries to launch a system using artificial intelligence to analyse the credit of FTI members, helping them get more cash flow and better credit terms from their suppliers.
By the end of 2019, Creden aims to raise Series A funds as part of an Asean expansion in which Indonesia is the first target. Chan Wanich and DTAC Accelerate invested 50 million baht during the seed round.
