Wongnai Media, a restaurant and beauty review platform, will likely receive Series C funding by the end of the year, while postponing its IPO until its valuation reaches 10 billion baht.
"We will announce one large deal in the Series C round by the third quarter, which will enable our business to grow in scale faster," Yod Chinsupakul, chief executive and co-founder of Wongnai, told the Bangkok Post.
Normally startups that receive Series C round funding are worth US$100-200 million (3.12-6.24 billion baht) with an average investment size of $26 million.
Wongnai received Series B funding back in 2016 from InVent, the venture capital arm of InTouch Holdings, which took a 10% stake worth 30 million baht.
Mr Yod declined to disclose further details of the company's last investment round.
He said Wongnai is valued at 3 billion baht, so he decided to postpone the IPO this year with an aim of building the business to a valuation of 10 billion baht to make the initial stock price more valuable.
To achieve the goal, Wongnai will boost recurring revenue, in particular by providing point-of-sale or allowing transactions with restaurants to occur on the Wongnai platform, as opposed to relying solely on ad revenue.
The company invested 5 million baht to open Thailand's first culinary co-working space, equipped with premium cooking appliances sponsored by Electrolux and Geolux.
The kitchen is located at True Digital Park and will be used to produce cooking videos and provide cooking classes.
Wongnai has 2.8 million registered users and 9 million page views a month. In 2018, it reported 150 million baht in revenue.
The company has partnered with Line Man to offer food deliveries from restaurants.
