Investment capital in Vietnamese startups in 2022 could reach 2 billion USD
According to the annual report of ESP Capital and Cento Ventures, with investment capital attractiveness in Vietnamese startups reaching more than 1.3 billion USD by 2021, Vietnam rose to 3rd position in the ASEAN startup ecosystem, just behind Indonesia and Singapore.
In 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, initial investment decreased by half compared to 2019 with 874 million USD, but the recovery quickly peaked and was a record level in 2021 and it is expected that in 2022, Investment funds continue to “pour capital” to Vietnamese startups.
The incessant flow of capital into the ecosystem has boosted the spirit of Vietnamese startups, and Vietnam is still considered a potential market.
Investment capital in Vietnamese startups will reach over 1.3 billion USD by 2021. Photo: Phuong Thu/Bidding Newspaper
By the end of 2021, Vietnam had around 208 venture capital funds operating and investing in start-ups in Vietnam, of which there were nearly 40 domestic investment funds.
Big names and active funds in the market include VSV Capital – Vietnam Silicon Valley, Mekong Capital, 500 Startups Vietnam, Vietnam Investment Group, IDG Ventures Vietnam, Nextrans, Do Ventures and Genesia Ventures.
Vietnam’s startup investment wave is “hot” since the beginning of the year
In 2022, in just the first 2 months of the year, Vietnamese startups continue to “heat up” with successful funding rounds.
In the agricultural sector, last January, a Vietnamese agricultural startup named Mio managed to raise USD 8 million in a Series A round. In the same January, Foodmap – an e-commerce startup engaged in agricultural products in Vietnam was just launched. Raised $2.9 million in pre-Series A funding led by Vulpes Ventures, Beenext, Ascend Vietnam Ventures and Wavemaker Partners.
Recently, e-commerce app Rino has successfully raised 3 million USD in an initial investment round from a group of investors including: Global Founders Capital (GFC), Sequoia Capital India, Venturra Discovery, and Saison Capital. Rino used the new capital to open hundreds of “dark shops”. The “dark shop” is an order fulfillment center, not serving customers who buy in person.
For the financial technology segment, in a Series C+ funding round in February, fintech Funding Societies raised a total of $144 million, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 along with new investors: VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, Indies Capital, K3 Ventures, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures. VNG itself recorded an investment of 22.5 million USD in Funding Societies (operating under the name Modalku in Indonesia).
Meanwhile, Vietnamese startup Infina has also managed to raise another $4 million in early rounds, from Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, Saison Capital, Starling Ventures, Alpha JWC, and AppWorks.
In the area of e-commerce platforms, at the end of February, cross-border e-commerce startup OpenCommerce Group (OCG) just raised USD 7 million, in a Series A funding round led by technology unicorn VNG with participation from venture capital fund Do Ventures.
In addition, Selly – an e-commerce platform with a social trading app, has raised $2.6 million from investment funds CyberAgent Capital, Do Ventures, Genesia Ventures, JAFCO Asia, and KVision.
In February, Pharmacity announced a $4 million investment in the retail platform RELEX Solutions, which helps predict shopping needs, provide the right products to customers, and will go live on Pharmacity systems in February-April this year.
The electric vehicle field has also become active in the last year with many big deals around the world. Specifically, in Vietnam in early 2022, StoreDot, a pioneer in super-fast charging battery (XFC) technology for electric vehicles, announced the completion of its first Series D funding round with a total amount of up to $80 million. .
The leading investor leading this funding round is a large electric vehicle manufacturer from Vietnam – VinFast, which is expanding its production scale and implementing the super-fast charging feature developed by StoreDot in the coming years, its futuristic electric vehicle architecture.
At the end of January, Selex Motors – a Vietnamese start-up in the design and manufacture of electric motorcycles, batteries and battery replacement stations, has just raised an initial $2.1 million. Led by Touchstone Partners, the round also involved investors such as ADB Ventures – a venture capital fund from the Asian Development Bank and Nextrans – one of the most active Korean venture capital funds, the best in Vietnam.
Initial investment capital in 2022 can reach 2 billion USD
In fact, Vietnam deserves to be called the center of the world’s new technology because the new generation of startups will become the growth engine of Vietnam’s startup ecosystem.
In particular, the new generation of startups with the characteristics of competing with many domestic and international competitors, this generation of startups immediately has a regional and global vision and these startups understand that for sustainable development, they must be open to expanding their thoughts, activities and networks to reach out globally.
Technology experts say that in the current era, the orientation and promotion of export trends for Vietnamese startups is a big and central issue in the process of advancing the development of the national economy in general and the business sector, the innovation sector in particular.
Speaking with Nhadautu.vn on the afternoon of March 11, Mr. Hoang Cong Doan – Chairman of the Vietnam Investment and Startup Club said that the “taste” of investors this year remained unchanged, with a focus on startups in agriculture and technology.
Mr Hoang Cong Doan – Chairman of the Vietnam Investment and Startup Club. Photo: Characters provided
“Investing in startups is risky, but the returns are quite high, because startup growth is very fast. Therefore, investors continue to flock to invest in startups. This is also one of the opportunities. I think this year’s capital investment in startups in Vietnam is around 2 billion USD,” said Mr. Doan.
Referring to the current startup problems, Mr. Doan said that so far startups have faced the same situation, namely lack of capital, lack of knowledge about corporate governance and market research. Therefore, a business that wants investment needs to build a relatively professional corporate apparatus and maintain its own brand. At the same time, it is necessary to have a unique idea to dominate the market in the future.
According to Mr. Doan, although startups can ask for capital, they still have to focus more deeply on business strategy and core values.
“Many businessmen, after having little capital and a few brands, are competing to follow the “cunning” image on the outside, giving birth to wills. Since then, if they don’t pay attention to the product, of course they will be left behind, causing market losses and collapse very quickly,” said Mr. Doan.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
