Need your parcels delivered? Give Flash Express a try.

Flash Express’s Thai-Chinese founder Komsan Lee was born to a poor family. He wanted to make their lives easier. After studying China’s booming e-commerce sector, he started his own logistics company in 2017 in Thailand.

Now, they’re valued at $2.1B, handling 700M parcels a year.

They have 10,000 service branches and 27,000 employees.

This is the story of Flash Express, the logistics startup that’s taking Southeast Asia by storm.

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🇹🇭 Humble beginnings

Komsan Lee was born to a Thai-Chinese family in Thailand. His parents struggled to make ends meet. From a young age, he saw his parents work hard to feed their family, and his goal was to make their lives easier.

Komsan did everything he could to earn money. He first worked at a grocery shop. When he got to college, he started selling goods outside his university. He would only earn $274 a month.  

After that, he worked as a property sale agent, freight forwarder, and even ran a logistics firm that shipped items to Japan, China, and the US.

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👀 On the lookout  

Komsan wanted to start his own logistics company in Thailand. He saw that e-commerce was growing in other countries, especially China.

So he studied their e-commerce, logistics, and infrastructure. He also partnered with Di Weijie, a Chinese man who previously worked for Alibaba. In his 8 years at Alibaba, Weijie helped develop the Alipay wallet and third-party QR codes.  

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💪 Never back down

He was starting to feel confident about his new business.

But at the same time, he struggled to get Flash Express up and running—he only slept for 4 hours a day!

At one point, he went to the hospital for exhaustion. But when he got better, he went right back to working.

Komsan knew that each struggle in his path was preparing him for what lay ahead. “Failures never stopped me from developing further,” he said.

“Failures let me grow. They gave me experiences and lessons that brought me to this point today.”

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⚡ Just getting started

Komsan also studied other logistics companies in Thailand. They were all international—Flash Express was the only homegrown company!

He used this to his advantage by focusing on sellers who used Facebook, Instagram, and Line.

Customers were attracted to the low prices. While other companies charged $1.65 (60 baht), Flash Express only charged $0.69 (25 baht).

They used AI to plan the fastest routes, keeping prices low!

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🤑 More room for growth  

In 2018, Komsan had spent $4M (400M baht). He started fundraising and got an initial investment of $4M from American investors.

The Flash Group would handle 100 packages a day, 40% more than their competitors. The Flash Group’s efficiency made customers rely on them for more deliveries!

In 2020, Flash Express controlled 15% of the packages delivered to Thai homes.

In their D+ and E rounds, Flash Group raised $150M, making them the first Thai unicorn!

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🔑 The key to success

Flash Express is not Flash Group’s only venture. They also have others like Flash Logistics, which delivers large items. There’s also Flash Money, which deals with financial services.

“We are not just a delivery company — we are a provider of complete e-commerce services. We cater to the needs of online vendors and help them grow,” Komsan said.

For Komsan, an e-commerce company is only as strong as its infrastructure. Having strong Internet access, a smooth logistical flow, and consistent funds are essential.

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🤩 Here and now

Today, Flash Express has over 1,300 distribution centers that handle 2M parcels a day.

Their 15,000 delivery vehicles offer free door-to-door pickup and delivery.

Flash Express has also been growing in other countries, like Laos, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

In the Philippines, they have 12,500 employees serving Shopee and Lazada. Flash Express is now one of the top three e-commerce couriers in the country!

Flash Express was not an overnight success. But we’d like to think Komsan’s sacrifices are well worth it.