MAI-listed Bluebik Group, a digital transformation firm, has set an ambitious goal to become a global firm by diversifying to cybersecurity and deep tech like blockchain and metaverse.
As digital transformation services are forecast to reach a mature stage in the next five years, the company has prepared a several hundred-million-baht budget for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), including joint ventures to maintain inorganic and sustainable growth.
"Digital transformation services in Thailand still see growth of 30-40%," said Pochara Arayakarnkul, chief executive of Bluebik.
The market value of the software service sector in Thailand rose 14.9%, mainly attributed to digital transformation.
Globally, direct investment in digital transformation posted a compound annual growth rate of 16.5% between 2022 and 2024.
Around 65% of world's GDP would be digitised by 2022.
Bluebik sees that digital transformation will continue to gain momentum for at least the next five years.
However, it needs to find new areas of business in order to maintain long-term growth.
"We have to maintain our growth in the post-digital transformation era through various methods, such as business model reinvention, business innovation platform and cybersecurity," Mr Pochara said.
The company saw a compound annual growth rate at 70% between 2018 and 2021 as it secured 304 million baht revenue last year.
During the first half, net profit saw an increase of 105%, while revenue grew by 92% year-on-year and the company was granted with tax privileges from the Thailand Board of Investment.
"We have to expand our core business, digital transformation services, beyond Southeast Asia and diversify to new technologies through our own research and development unit, M&A and joint ventures in order to become an end-to-end digital transformation partner," said Mr Pochara.
Bluebik recently established three new subsidiaries worth a combined 50 million baht, consisting of Bluebik Titans to capture the cybersecurity market, Bluebik (UK) to spearhead expansion in Europe, and Bluebik Nexus to focus on the digital platform and blockchain products.
The firm in the first half earned more than 30 million baht from overseas services, which accounted for 12%. It aims to increase this portion to 15-20% this year.
Mr Pochara said the company will rely on deep tech development as a key investment, such as metaverse, blockchain, bionic humans, quantum computing, extended reality and emotional AI.
