It seems the e-book market in Thailand has been quietly flourishing, at least according to a local provider of digital books and magazines, Ookbee.
The company is the country’s biggest e-bookstore, with a claimed 88 percent market share. Its founder, Natavudh “Moo” Pungcharoenpong, said the local market is still very new and young, but added that it has amassed 3 million users so far, and is adding new subscribers at a rate of 6,000 each day.
Last year, Ookbee delivered about 8 million books, free and paid, and raked in revenues of about “several million dollars” in the year, he said.
The company raised a $2 million round from InTouch (formerly Shin Corporation), at a $8 million valuation last September. The current momentum, said Pungcharoenpong, will take the company into Singapore by April.
This builds on its recent expansion efforts in the region. Apart from its Thai headquarters, it has an office in Vietnam, and two months ago incorporated an office in Malaysia. Since its Malaysian launch, it managed to attract about 100,000 users reading 40 magazine titles and 5,000 e-books there.
It’s been seeding for its Singapore plans, as well. Last month, it secured a deal with Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), the largest magazine publisher in the country, to add about 100 of SPH’s magazine titles to Ookbee’s platform.