How Thailand Got Old Before It Got Rich (Thailand Economy Explained)
🇹🇭 Thailand · Bangkok
Secondaries in Thailand
Thailand’s venture market is recovering off a low base — and some of its most established institutions are quietly backing the region’s private-market rails.
H2 2025Dealmaking improved after a soft patch
SETThe Stock Exchange of Thailand backs private-market platforms
KrungsriFinnovate is an active corporate venture arm
Institutions are leaning in
Thailand’s venture activity picked up in the second half of 2025, albeit from a low base. What’s notable is who is building the infrastructure: both the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Krungsri Finnovate are among the investors behind Singapore’s ADDX — a clear signal that Thai institutions see private-market rails, including secondary trading, as strategic.
For Thai investors, that institutional backing tends to translate into cross-border access: reaching regional secondary opportunities through Singapore-based, MAS-regulated platforms.
How access works
Domestic private-share secondaries in Thailand are still mostly bilateral and negotiated. The more developed route for Thai accredited investors is regional — buying into private and pre-IPO names via platforms headquartered in Singapore, then holding through cross-border fund structures.
As always, the private-market caveats apply: illiquidity, limited information rights, and pricing set by negotiation rather than a public market.
LiVE Exchange: the domestic experiment
Thailand’s home-grown answer is LiVE Exchange (LiVEx), a venue the Stock Exchange of Thailand launched in 2022 specifically for SMEs and startups — a lighter-touch listing route whose shares trade only among institutional and qualified investors rather than the general public. Volumes remain modest, but it gives Thai growth companies a regulated secondary venue that most of Southeast Asia lacks, and it signals where SET wants the market to go.
On tax, the practical asymmetry matters: individuals’ gains on SET-listed shares sold on-exchange are generally exempt from personal income tax, while gains on unlisted shares are taxable income subject to withholding — one more reason Thai secondary deals tend to cluster around companies with a listing path. Verify current treatment with a licensed Thai adviser before transacting.
Names to know
Thailand’s corporate venture arms are the most active local players in late-stage private deals — Krungsri Finnovate (Bank of Ayudhya) and SCB 10X (SCB X group) both back regional startups and private-market infrastructure, and Ascend Money, the TrueMoney operator backed by CP Group and Ant, remains the country’s flagship fintech unicorn and the name most watched for an eventual listing or liquidity event.
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Frequently asked questions
What is LiVE Exchange?
A Stock Exchange of Thailand venue launched in 2022 for SMEs and startups, with trading restricted to institutional and qualified investors. It provides a regulated, lighter-touch secondary venue for Thai growth companies ahead of a full SET or mai listing.
Can Thai investors access private-market secondaries?
Yes — primarily on a cross-border basis through Singapore-based, MAS-regulated platforms, several of which count Thai institutions such as the Stock Exchange of Thailand among their backers.
What role does the Stock Exchange of Thailand play?
Beyond public listings, the SET has invested in regional private-market infrastructure, including Singapore’s ADDX — signalling institutional interest in digital and secondary private-market trading reaching Thai investors.
Is Thailand’s venture market growing?
It is recovering. After a soft stretch, dealmaking improved in the second half of 2025 from a low base — meaningful for a smaller market where incremental activity shifts the headline trend.
Start with the basics
New to buying and selling existing startup stakes?Secondaries Explained walks through the mechanics, pricing, and pitfalls of secondary transactions in plain language — and it applies across every market on this site, Thailand included.