Second-round funding makes a difference: consistently higher survival and financial sustainability rates
Both the B.E. 2566 and B.E. 2569 reports confirm the same trend: Champions who made it through to the second funding round had clearly higher survival rates and financial performance than those who stopped after the first round.
Translated from Thai · reviewed by the CF team
One finding that recurs in both the B.E. 2566 and B.E. 2569 reports is that Champions selected for a second round of funding (a larger grant, with a mentor providing continued support for another 4-6 months) consistently had higher business survival rates and financial sustainability than those who stopped after the first round.
The B.E. 2566 report found that 84% of those who made it through the second round survived, compared with just 67% of those in the first-round group. Financial sustainability (positive net profit for 2 consecutive years) was 57% compared with 38%, respectively. By the B.E. 2569 report, which covered data through cohort 14, the figures remained consistent: the second-round group had a survival rate of 86%, compared with 75%, and financial sustainability of 60%, compared with 36%.
The consistency of this trend across two evaluation rounds several years apart indicates that deeper and more sustained support—both a larger grant and a longer period of mentoring—has a significant effect on enterprise success, beyond simply receiving a larger amount of funding.