In Vichet (Khmer: អ៊ិន វិចិត្រ; born 23 August 1983), is the co-founder and CEO of one of Cambodia’s first and most successful forays into e-commerce. He and his three other siblings founded Little Fashion[1] in December 2010. He is also co-founder of Khmerload, also known as Mediaload, the first Cambodian tech startup to receive investment from Silicon Valley investors. It secured seed funding of $200,000 from 500 Startups in 2017. Channel NewsAsia featured Vichet as one of the great disruptors in Cambodia.[2][3][4][5][6]
In Vichet | |
|---|---|
| អ៊ិន វិចិត្រ | |
 In Vichet | |
| Born | 23 August 1983 Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
| Nationality | Cambodian |
| Alma mater | Williams College University of Michigan |
| Occupation(s) | Co-founder and CEO of Groupin, Mediaload and Little Fashion |
Early life and education
editVichet graduated from National University of Management with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management in 2003 and from Institute of Foreign Languages, Royal University of Phnom Penh with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education in 2004. He earned a Master of Arts in Development Economics from Williams College in 2007 and Ph.D candidacy in Economics from University of Michigan in 2011.[7][8][9]
Career
editWhile in the U.S., where Vichet had lived on and off for five years as a student, he dabbled in various online business ideas, including an e-commerce project to buy-sell course books, in his spare time. Together with his two brothers he began the website in 2011 while at the University of Michigan. When it began to show potential, he returned home full-time to develop Mediaload.[10]
In 2016, he struggled to raise seed funding from regional investors as there was no Cambodian successful startup story before. He managed to secure funding from 500 Startups in 2017 only after he launched Mediaload in Myanmar successfully.[11][12]
In March 2019, Groupin, a holding company of e-commerce Little Fashion and Mediaload, raised US$5 million from a private equity firm, marking the largest startup funding round raised in Cambodia at that time.[13][14][15]
In September 2020, Mediaload secured an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from True Group, the telecom arm of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group.[16]
References
edit- ^ "How a bootstrapped media company became 500 Startups' first investment in Cambodia". Techinasia.
- ^ "Cambodia's "Buzzfeed" Becomes First Phnom Penh Tech Startup To Attract Silicon Valley Investment". Voice of America. 23 March 2017.
- ^ "Reporter's notebook: Countries like Cambodia could see 'brain re-flow'". CNBC. 10 May 2017.
- ^ "Going Online the Cambodian Way". BBC.
- ^ "The current state-of-play of e-payments in Cambodia". Eurocham Cambodia.
- ^ "A kingdom's great disruptors: Cambodia's start-ups seeking success". Channel News Asia.
- ^ "Williams College, Graduate Student List".
- ^ "Archive-edu, UMICH Graduate Student List 2012-11-15 Archive".
- ^ Holly Robertson (10 October 2017). "Cambodian viral site Khmerload has new plans for a BuzzFeed-like digital empire across Southeast Asia". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
- ^ "A BuzzFeed would-be is paving the way for startups in Cambodia". Techcrunch. 7 May 2017.
- ^ "Promises and pitfalls in Cambodia's online business world". Nikkei.
- ^ "Khmerload: the first Cambodian startup to receive Silicon Valley investment". GeeksinCambodia. 3 April 2017.
- ^ "Cambodia records its largest startup funding round so far". Techinasia.
- ^ "Cambodian internet startup company Groupin secures US$5M Series A funding". E27.
- ^ "Mekong-focused Belt Road Capital invests $5m in Cambodia's Groupin". Dealstreetasia.
- ^ "Thailand's True Group leads Series A round in Cambodian media startup Mediaload". KrASIA. 2020-09-29. Retrieved 2021-09-13.