Applied AI innovation hub

Empowering the World’s Next Innovators

The best solutions are emerging from places the world too often ignores.

Avant Labs is a technology and impact-focused innovation hub. We give leaders the tools, mentorship, and pathways to build scalable ventures across Southeast Asia and other emerging markets.

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Partners

Explore

There's more than one wayTo get involved.

Learn, build, invest, research, or simply meet people who are building. Start wherever you like.

ProgramsLearn by buildingBootcamps, hackathons, and workshops on AI and entrepreneurship. For startupsGrow your startupIncubation, go-to-market, market entry, and cross-border business development across the region. For organizationsBring AI into your organizationAvant Strategy diagnoses, builds, and embeds AI with your team.

CommunityJoin the communityAvant Society brings founders, operators, researchers, and students together every week. EventsJoin eventsPanels, build nights, and showcases throughout the year. ResearchRead our insightsReports on AI, markets, and policy in emerging economies. PortfolioProjects we've worked withVentures, projects, and communities we've helped build. ResourcesExplore our reportsInteractive data, slide reports, and case studies to download and share. PartnershipsPartner or sponsorCo-host programs and support builders across the region. ExpertiseMentor or speakShare what you know with the next generation of founders.

Events

What's happening atAvant Labs.

All events

Insights and resources

Research fromAvant Labs.

All insights Resources

Have an idea worth building?Let's talk.

Avant Labs is here to empower you with personalized guidance to create more meaningful impact.

Get in touch See our portfolio

About us

An enabling platform forBold founders.

Avant Labs identifies, builds, and supports early-stage founders and ventures harnessing technology and transformative ideas to tackle pressing challenges across emerging markets.

What we do

Educate founders through immersive learning and systems thinking
Incubate early-stage ideas into investable ventures
Connect founders with capital, technical partners, and real-world pilots
Build coalitions and ecosystems for frontier innovation

Why Avant Labs

The most transformative solutions are already emerging from places the world too often ignores.

We help these innovators rise: equipped, connected, and empowered.

Who we serve

Mission-driven leaders from:

Developing cities and remote communities
Emerging economies
Diaspora innovators solving problems in their home countries
Regions facing urgent crises in climate, health, education, and inequality

Core technology pillars

We focus on applied AI, decentralized systems, and regenerative innovation, supporting changemakers using deep tech in health, sustainability, finance, education, and governance.

1

Artificial intelligence and machine learning

Smart, context-aware solutions for productivity, diagnostics, education, financial inclusion, decision-making, and personalization.

2

Web3 and decentralized technologies

Infrastructure for digital trust, identity, ownership, governance, and economic coordination that enables transparent, inclusive participation.

3

Data infrastructure and digital public goods

Platforms for transparency, open data, interoperability, and ethical data use, especially where such systems are missing or fragmented.

4

Sustainability and regenerative technologies

Tools for environmental resilience, circular economies, carbon reduction, climate adaptation, and long-term planetary health.

Avant Society

A room full ofBuilders.

A curated community of founders, operators, researchers, and students. We meet every Wednesday evening in Bangkok to learn, build, and open doors for each other.

25+projects and communities in our portfolio

45+events hosted and supported since 2024

20countries reached by ventures our team has built

100+research reports published on our blog

Services

Three ways weMove ideas.

From the first idea to a venture with real pilots, we support founders at every step.

Educate

Education

Founder-first pedagogy rooted in leadership, foundational business and entrepreneurial skills, systems thinking, and future-skills literacy.

AI for Good Bootcamp
Workshops and masterclasses
Case-based business courses

Incubate

Incubation

Structured sprints, validation labs, and pilot design support that turn early ideas into investable ventures.

Validation sprints
Pilot design
Introductions to capital and technical partners

Connect

Ecosystem building

A community of changemakers using innovative insights to empower developing regions.

Avant Society weekly sessions
Hackathons and showcases
Cross-border ecosystem partnerships

ProgramEducation

AI for GoodBootcamp

Most teenagers in Bangkok have used AI. Almost none have built with it. In this two-day intensive with UPstra, students aged 14 to 18 go from problem to working AI product to pitch in 48 hours, and the winning team continues into real project development with Avant Labs.

A working AI-powered solution to a problem they chose
The founder's toolkit: scoping, prototyping, and pitching under pressure
A project that exists in the world, not just on paper
A cohort of peers from schools across the city
A one-on-one consultation with UPstra

FacultyKacha "Shogun" MahadumrongkulFounder and MD, Avant Labs (Yale)

FacultyMatthew McDonnellFounder, Kebayoran Technologies (Harvard Business School)

FacultyCaderyn Owen JonesOutgoing Curator, Global Shapers Community, WEF (Yale)

Program details Register interest

Ages: 14 to 18
Next intake: 12 to 13 December 2026
Format: Two days, 9:30 to 17:00
Partners: Future Atlas and UPstra Group
Includes: A one-on-one university consultation with UPstra for every participant

Need AI inside your company?Our consulting arm, Avant Strategy, diagnoses, builds, and embeds AI for corporates.

Visit Avant Strategy

Ventures

Companies we'reBuilding.

Homegrown ventures at the intersection of technology and impact.

Wellbeing

Zenful Institute

Wellbeing for leaders and executives, and a platform for Southeast Asia's wellness providers.

zenfulinstitute.com Food and agriculture

Verdin

Organic food and regenerative agriculture, from farm to table.

verdin.life

Incubation portfolio

Projects andCommunities.

Events

Come buildWith us.

Panels, bootcamps, hackathons, and weekly sessions across Southeast Asia and beyond.

UpcomingApply by 13 Oct

UNLEASH Hack BangkokBetter Mind at Work

What if building a healthier workplace also helped you discover a new way to solve challenges in your organization?

Join UNLEASH Hack Bangkok: Better Mind at Work and experience UNLEASH’s innovation tools and hackathon process through a real workplace challenge.

Across two workshop days, you’ll work in a team to understand the problem, explore people’s needs, develop ideas, and design a solution or prototype that supports better mental health and wellbeing at work.

What you’ll gain

Hands-on experience with UNLEASH’s structured innovation process
Opportunities to work alongside HR leaders, mental health experts, and fellow participants
Practical tools you can take back to your organization to tackle other challenges
Connections with UNLEASH’s global community of changemakers

Online: 22 October 2026
Onsite: 30 October 2026, Community Center, 5A Floor, Nextopia, Siam Paragon
Apply by: 13 October 2026

A collaboration between UNLEASH, WE Tech Consulting, Nextopia, Avant Labs, Hackathon Thailand, HREX.asia, Global Social Innovation, สสส. (สำนักงานกองทุนสนับสนุนการสร้างเสริมสุขภาพ): ThaiHealth, and Global Shapers Bangkok. This program brings learning and experimentation together to help turn workplace challenges into ideas with the potential for real impact.

Learn more and apply

#UNLEASHHacks #UNLEASHHackBangkok #BetterMindAtWork

The future ofSeries

The Future of AI inSoutheast Asia

Most AI is built elsewhere, for someone else.

What should Southeast Asia build next, and who gets to build it?

PanelistChompakorn ChaksangchaichotManaging Director, VISAI. Building Thai-language AI.

ModeratorKacha "Shogun" MahadumrongkulFounder and Managing Director, Avant Labs.

Wed 11 Nov 20265A Floor, Nextopia
Siam Paragon, Bangkok

18:45: Registration
19:15: Panel and Q&A
20:30: Networking
21:00: Close

StudentFreeVerified on approval

Early bird500 THBLimited time

General600 THBRegular admission

Register now

12 to 13 Dec2026

AI for Good Bootcamp

A two-day intensive for students aged 14 to 18. Build an AI-powered solution to a real problem and pitch it. With Future Atlas and UPstra Group.

Details

StudentsDate on event page

นิสิต นักศึกษาพลาดไม่ได้ กับเวทีแห่งไอเดียนวัตกรรมเทคโนโลยีในยุคปัญญาประดิษฐ์ "เพื่ออนาคตการศึกษาไทย"

A stage for university students to pitch technology and innovation ideas for the future of Thai education in the age of AI.

Details

WednesdaysLate Oct to Apr

Avant Society sessions

Talks, workshops, and build nights on entrepreneurship, technology, and impact at Nextopia. Monthly membership.

Join

More soon2026 and beyond

Future Avant Labs events

New workshops, panels, and programs are added regularly. Get notified when the next one opens.

Get notified

Past events

Blog

Research andInsights.

109 strategic reports on AI, frontier tech, markets, and policy across Southeast Asia.

Resources

Reports toRead next.

Data-driven analysis for founders, investors, and policymakers. Every report opens right here.

Report · 9 slides

Get in touch

Let's buildWhat matters.

Whether you're an innovator, changemaker, collaborator, or supporter, there's a place for you in this growing community.

Email: connect@avantgroup.tech
Phone: +66 82 084 2999
Office: Avant Labs, 20th Floor, T-One Building
8 Soi Sukhumvit 40, Khwaeng Phra Khanong
Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110
Community venue: Nextopia, Siam Paragon
Meetup: Avant Labs Innovation Hub