Founder Spotlight:  Dai Hoang, Founder of Thien Kien

Special Promotion: Very Good Viet Goods (VG2)

Network News:  LogiGear, Southern Star Creatives Foundation, MeridianLink, InPhi

Funding:  Touchstone Partners, TNB Aura, VinFast

Vietnam Tech and Startup Environment:  V Startup Collaborations, FDI, Megaprojects, and More

Vietnam Film and Music Industry News: Singer Successes, International Cooperation in the Film Industry, Industry Growth, and More

Out of all SEA countries, Vietnam creates the most jobs per dollar invested of FDI Vietnam is likely to be in the top 20 of the Global Peace Index by 2050 In 5 years, Vietnam’s economy will account for over 1% of the world’s GDP

Dai Hoang, Founder of Thien Kien

Dai Hoang began his career as a digital artist working at game companies before shifting his career to work at an event agency and eventually finding work in the film and TVC industry, which he has been doing since 2014. During this time period, he worked in the art departments of many producers for some of Vietnam’s most well known movies, including Saigon Bodyguard (TNA production), My Mister Wife (Chanh Phuong production), Tao Quay (The NewYolk production), and Maika (BHD production).

He’s also contributed to 2 short films: The Sound of Silence (directed by Luu Nguyet Đan Thanh) and Trading-card Season (directed by Huynh Anh Duy). Extending beyond the Vietnam market, he also worked on 2 international movies: Da 5 Bloods (Netflix) and Taxi Driver 2 (Netflix). For his work on TVCs, he contributed to large multinational brands such as Toyota, Honda, Dutch Lady (Disney), Bandai, Momo, Lifebuoy, PNJ, SATO, Vinamilk, Vietlott, Maggi, Massan, C2, OPPO, Clear, Lazada, Larue Beer, Tiger Beer, Dienmayxanh, Nutrifood and many more until 2022.

In 2021/2022, he shifted his life focus to pursue his long-standing desire to share Vietnamese culture, by first cooperating with Thua Thien Hue Institute for Development Studies to organize a cultural event called Vietnam Summer Fair 2022. In July of 2022, he decided to open Thien Kien company with the passionate goal of becoming a cultural agency, introducing Vietnamese culture and heritage to both locals and the rest of the world. In 2023, Thien Kien sponsored the TECx conference organized by SAVVi Code, during which it provided the highest quality organic Vietnamese foods for attendees and provided hand crafted gifts made by ethnic minorities in the north of the country to the event’s speakers.

Today, Dai hopes that he can play a significant role in boosting Vietnam’s culture to the world through Thien Kien, his magnum opus. In many ways, it is the accumulation of everything he has done up to this point and the realization of his greatest dream. With this company, in cooperation with agricultural and cultural partners all over the country as well as SAVVi, he believes that Thien Kien can become the largest cultural agency in Vietnam.

You are invited to the Zoom Interview with Dai Hoang. When: Aug 31, 2023 08:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Topic: Founder Spotlight: Dai Hoang, From Digital Games to Cultural Agency

Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84028693472?pwd=V28vN3lsVzd5eDNDdFFiMVBTMEtOQT09

Passcode: 380805

Very Good Viet Goods

VERY GOOD VIET GOODS (VG2) is a unique program that introduces the highest quality Vietnamese products, from agriculture to technology, to SAVVi’s members. The participants of the program undergo a rigorous filtering process to determine the quality of their products as well as quality of their business practices.

The program is designed to provide SAVVi corporate members exclusive benefits for their employees to build up company morale and increase retention and productivity. The program exposes participants’ products to SAVVi’s international members, helping introduce their products or services to global markets.

Our first program participant is THIEN KIEN, a cultural agency specializing in Vietnamese fruit and cultural events. Thien Kien offers “seasonal fruits” naturally grown to ensure quality. Their unique blend of fruit and storytelling infuses Vietnamese culture into any event. Most importantly, any event that Thien Kien caters will highlight the distinctive characteristics of the host company and within a customized and suitable budget.

For this Tet Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Festival), we invite your business to enjoy Thien Kien’s unique offering in bringing cultural stories and experiences, including Traditional Giftsets and a customized Vietnamese Teabreak Parties. Exclusively for SAVVi members, Thien Kien will offer the unique opportunity to “BUY GIFTSETS GET TEABREAK”. The presentation highlights Vietnam’s agricultural abundance and is environmentally conscious with banana leaves, bamboo packaging, among other natural elements.

Please contact us at contact@savvicode.com should you have any questions

UPDATES

LogiGear
Representatives of LogiGear and a few other notable organizations recently noted that FPT Aptech graduates have a solid foundation of knowledge, skills, confidence and high integration ability. According to Mr. Vuong Bao Long – Vice President of LogiGear, in the next 10 years with the development of information technology, knowledge, soft skills, and foreign languages will be factors to help students succeed more readily. Therefore, the fact that FPT Aptech focuses on investing in these things in the teaching process will help students easily adapt to the job. LogiGear receives many students from FPT Aptech. Most of these students have good background knowledge and quickly adapt to the corporate environment, incentivising LogiGear to continue hiring them in large numbers. Mr. Vuong Bao Long attended the graduation ceremony of FPT Aptech in 2022 and gave a speech to the graduates; some of whom now work for LogiGear as fulltime employees.

Southern Star Creatives Foundation

Southern Star Creatives Foundation, a SAVVi-affiliate, US-based nonprofit organization, has begun fundraising for 2023. By the end of the year, the foundation hopes to raise enough money to fund 3 short films directed by Vietnamese filmmakers which will be showcased at international film festivals all over the world. Southern Star is dedicated to four core goals: Funding the work of Vietnamese creatives, preserving Vietnamese culture, spreading Vietnamese creative content around the world, and connecting the stakeholders in the creative arts. They accomplish this by accepting submissions from applicants who have an idea for a creative project they would like to make. The most promising get their projects funded, whether it be a short film, documentary, web series, music video, or any other creative media. From the inception of the idea to the production to the marketing and distribution, the foundation is there to help. All funded projects will be showcased at the TECx 2024 conference. Donors get recognition in the credits of each funded projects as well as being able to deduct contributions from their taxes. For more details on the organization, visit https://www.southernstarcreatives.org/

InPhi

Silicon Photonics Modules Market, a recently launched report by MarketsandResearch.biz that includes information regarding the market share, industry’s growth prospects, and scope, highlighted InPhi as one of the key players in the global Silicon Photonics Modules market. The report comes up with the research objectives, detailed overview, importexport status, market segmentation, and market size evaluation. The report observes numerous in-depth, influential, and inducing factors that outline the market and industry. All of the findings, data, and information included in the report are validated and revalidated with the help of trustworthy sources. The analysts who have authored the report took a unique and industry-best research and analysis approach for an in-depth study of the global Silicon Photonics Modules market. The report provides a clear snapshot of the market value of the market. The research provides detailed information about the development occurring in the market. An in-depth study of modern technologies used in product development in the global Silicon Photonics Modules market has been given in this report. Important topics covered in this report are product overview, the industry overview, regional market overview, market segment analysis, limitations, market dynamics, industry news, opportunities. The market segmentation is done to provide an easy perspective of the global Silicon Photonics Modules market so that it will be easy to understand the market. The product type and application type market segmentation provides information about the various categories of products along with their application in the market. Also, this study comes up with the analysis of competition landscape, industry chain, future, and historical data by types, regions, and applications. This report forecasts demands, Trends, and revenue growth at regional & country levels and provides an analysis of the industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2023 to 2029.

MeridianLink

MeridianLink, a leading provider of modern software platforms for financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies, today announced the appointment of Ed McDermott to its board of directors and to serve as the Company’s new board chair. Mr. McDermott is the managing partner of Spring Tide Partners, an investment firm that makes concentrated, longterm investments in public and private companies. Prior to founding Spring Tide Partners in 2015, he was a co-managing partner of SPO Partners & Co., an investment partnership he originally joined in 1995. Mr. McDermott holds a B.A. from Williams College and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “We welcome the wealth of expertise and industry knowledge that Ed brings to the chair of the board role, and we value his experience partnering with innovative companies through impressive growth milestones,” said MeridianLink CEO Nicolaas Vlok. “The last several years have been monumental as we’ve accelerated our organic growth profile while successfully completing multiple acquisitions and our initial public offering. I want to thank our former board chair, Paul Zuber, for his guidance and partnership. As we look to the future, I am thrilled to have Ed’s leadership as we continue to scale and grow.” “It’s been an honor to serve as board chair of MeridianLink during the past five years of tremendous growth,” said Mr. Zuber. “The Company is well-positioned to continue its trajectory of success, and I am excited to see its future unfold.” “MeridianLink is a pioneering company that has helped shape the digital lending space for the last 25 years,” said Mr. McDermott. “I am excited to work with the management team and board as we build on this strong foundation and realize the Company’s next chapter of growth.”

Touchstone Partners
Vietnamese venture capital firm Touchstone Partners is seeking to raise its second fund to continue betting on Vietnam’s growing technology ecosystem. This is according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to Tu Ngo, the firm’s general partner, Touchstone Partners has had preliminary discussions with a wide range of potential investors who like what they have been doing and their approach. To date, Touchstone has invested in 23 startups across early-stage fintech, health care, edtech, and blockchain.

TNB Aura
Singapore-based venture capital firm TNB Aura is in talks to raise capital for its third fund. They say they are looking to double down on their investments in Vietnam. In the next 18 months, they intend to invest into 5-7 companies in the country. In the past 3 years, they have already invested in 8 companies in Vietnam. TNB Aura has also established a Scout initiative to tap into earlystage opportunities within the country.

VinFast
Shares in Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast surged on their Nasdaq debut on Tuesday amid limited trading. The debut came after the company closed its merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in Asia’s biggest M&A deal this year. The stock opened at $22, more than double the last close for VinFast’s SPAC partner Black Spade Acquisition. The deal had valued VinFast at $23 billion. At one point on Tuesday morning, the stock traded as high as $24, which would have valued the EV start-up, which has not posted a profit, at $55 billion, more than Ford’s market capitalization at $48 billion.

“Dat Bike – a renowned electric bike startup in Vietnam – announced a partnership with Baemin, an online food delivery app, to deploy electric motorcycles for delivery. Accordingly, the green delivery service with Dat Bike’s electric motorcycles on the Baemin app has been launched in Ho Chi Minh City starting today.”

“Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam and Deputy Minister of Science and ICT Park Yun-kyu of the Republic of Korea (RoK) held an online meeting on August 4 to discuss measures to promote cooperation in information technology between the two countries.”

“Sunrise Material of Singapore signed an agreement with a Vietnamese company this week to develop a polymer wrap film production project worth US$100 million in the northern province of Nam Dinh. The deal was signed Friday with the Dai Phong Infrastructure Development JSC. The project will cover 4 ha at the My Thuan Industrial Park. Its construction will be carried out in five years, starting in 2024. The factory is expected to manufacture the first products after 15 months, according to an executive of Sunrise Material.”

“The Đại Phong infrastructure construction company of Việt Nam and JiaWei Corporation from Taiwan (China) signed a project development agreement at a ceremony in the northern province of Nam Định on Monday. Accordingly, JiaWei plans to invest in Đại Phong’s Mỹ Thuận Industrial Park located in Nam Định. Covering an area of 85,764 square metres, the JiaWei Vietnam plant project is set to design and manufacture products from environmentally friendly materials. The construction of related workshops and offices will begin this September, toward an official operation by the end of 2024. The facility is expected to provide jobs for approximately 1,000 workers in its initial phase.”

“Green and Smart Mobility (GSM) has officially launched its e-motorcycle hailing service Green SM Bike in Hanoi. This sets the company in direct competition with major regional players such as Grab and Gojek. Thanh Nguyen, the CEO of GSM and deputy CEO at VinFast and Vingroup, said in a LinkedIn post that the company plans to expand to Ho Chi Minh City and other markets in Vietnam. The launch of Green SM Bike follows the rollout of GSM’s e-taxi hailing service in April this year. GSM aims to take its taxi-hailing service to 27 provinces and three countries. As for Green SM Bike, the firm looks to expand the service to five Vietnamese localities and have a total of 60,000 electric two-wheelers on the road by the end of this year.”

“According to the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN), as of August 11, nearly 93% of the transitional renewable power projects have sent their documents to the Electricity Power Trading Company (EPTC) under EVN for pricing talks and power purchase agreements. However, there are six projects, totaling 285 MW, which have yet to provide their paperwork. Among these projects, 67 have proposed initial prices set at 50% of the price ceiling established by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The proposed prices range from VND754 to VND908, exclusive of value-added tax. EVN has engaged in price negotiations and signed power purchase agreements with 59 projects, of which 58 tentative prices have gained approval from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.”

“Singer Chi Pu had the sixth highest score at the end of the final episode of the Chinese reality show “Sisters Who Make Waves” on Friday. She also won two sub-categories in the show, including the “Fan Favorite” award for her “Shut Up and Dance” song, which she performed with Ella and former contestant Meng Jia in a previous season of the show, and the “Overcoming Challenges” award.”

“In Vietnam, film festivals not only create opportunities for filmmakers to promote and bring their works to the audience, but are also expected to be effective levers of the film industry and supporting services worth millions of dollars. Therefore, in recent years, along with efforts to make a mark on Vietnamese cinema at international film festivals, professional associations and many provinces and cities have embarked on organizing international film festivals associated with famous destinations in the country.”

“Actress and director Hong Anh will return to the ASEAN International Films Festival & Awards this year as a judge, six years after winning the festival’s Best Film category. Anh, 46, will be the only Vietnamese member of the festival’s board of jury. This marks another milestone in the female artist’s profile, as she set the record of winning eight out of nine nominations she received in the 2017 festival, including the Best Film award for her debut movie as a director, “Dao Cua Dan Ngu Cu” (The Way Station).”

“Promoting cooperation within Asia is one of key factors for Vietnam’s film industry to develop and gain success, according to Park Ki-Yong, chairman of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). Park said Việt Nam should seek support from Asian countries in sharing infrastructure and human resources, and improving storytelling. He also emphasised to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the film industry between Việt Nam and South Korea. He gave the example of Nhà Bà Nữ (The House of No Man), a successful cooperation between Vietnamese filmmakers and Korean distributor CJ HK Entertainment, who successfully distributed the movie in Việt Nam and foreign markets.”

“Vietnamese American singer Ha Phuong and her friend – actor Tran Sang have launched an MV entitled “Ben Do Chieu Mua”.

“Ben Do Chieu Mua” is a song composed and written by Tran Quang Hien – Ha Phuong’s father – based on the beautiful but tearful campus love story of his brother-inlaw that took place 40 years ago when he was a college student. In the music video, Tran Sang played the poor but handsome student, who loves music and falls for a girl who works at the school’s cafeteria, played by Ha Phuong.”

“Vietnamese pop star Hoang Thuy Linh song See Tinh (See Love) is proving hugely popular and been covered by many Asian celebrities. The hit has been viewed 43 million times on YouTube and millions of other times on a variety of music platforms and social networks. The song is also trending across many Asian countries like Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. The video featuring Jolin Tsai, the most successful singer in Taiwan, dancing along to See Love with friends in early May was shared widely on social media and forums. Japanese singer Shayne Orok covered the song on YouTube and got more than a million views.”

Full List Coming Soon To https://www.savvicode.com/

Full List Coming Soon To https://www.savvicode.com/

Founder Spotlight:  Mike Tran, Founder of Ticketbox

Network News:  Elsa, Dat Bike, Monk’s Hill Ventures and Golden Gate Ventures, Marvell

Funding:  FoodMap, Clevai, Tepbac, Vuihoc

Vietnam Tech and Startup Environment:  Visa Exemptions, FDI, Industry Focuses, and More

By 2030, Vietnam will have a literacy rate of 99%, up 3% from now In 10 years, Vietnam’s agricultural sector will only make up 7% of its economy Vietnam has the fastest growing fashion industry in Asia

Mike Tran, Founder of Ticketbox

Mike Tran is an entrepreneur from Vietnam who founded Ticketbox in 2013 and built it to become the biggest and most trusted event ticketing company in the country after 2 years. Ticketbox also expanded it’s operation to Thailand and Singapore before later getting acquired in 2019 by Tiki – one of the largest ecommerce companies in Vietnam. Besides Ticketbox, Mike Tran is also influential among the Startup community in Vietnam and is an advisor at multiple startups. He is currently leading LEK group with investments in Auftdart – Music school for the young generation, Ravolution Music Festival – the No. 1 Music Festival in Vietnam (No. 58 worldwide), and a few early stage technology startups.

Entering into an engineering career originally, Mike quickly realized his passion was not in this type of work, but in technology. However, his first attempt with the Keewi application was soon rejected by the market for a simple reason: poor applicability and product market fit.

According to Mike, his very next idea, the Ticketbox application, was born from the very simple idea of making it easier for people to buy tickets to events, avoiding having to run to the box office, waiting in line, sometimes having to buy tickets at very high prices. This application reduced black market ticket sales and helped buyers and sellers to work in a simpler and more transparent way.

According to Mike, every start-up is surrounded by many difficulties simultaneously, but if you look at it broadly, there is only one bottleneck, a single and biggest key barrier. The question is, can I find a way to untangle and overcome this difficult knot?

Recalling the first bottleneck when Ticketbox began to expand, Mike Tran said: “It’s not just about building and developing products anymore. We also have to pay attention to recruiting good people, building management processes, training, taking care of customers… But these are no longer ideas. We have always been dealing with a lot of problems at once, but I prioritized solving each knot by asking ourselves questions as a team, such as whether this is the most important problem to solve compared to current resources? If forced to choose a certain solution, my colleagues and I will carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages.”

Ticketbox has brought fans access to a variety of world-class artistic, sporting and academic events right in Vietnam. A start-up with only a few people when it was just established, now Ticketbox has expanded to serve many events throughout the country with more than 400 partners. It also has offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and is expanding into neighboring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.

Please join us as we interview Mike on July 27 at 3p (ICT). Zoom details are: When: Jul 27, 2023 03:00 PM Vietnam

Topic: Founder Spotlight: Mike Tran, Building a Regional Viet Tech Company Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86280552765?pwd=QkIyQjkwclB3OVR0QnRna2ZMVkJ6QT09

Passcode: 917422

UPDATES

Elsa
ELSA Speak has developed the ELSA Dashboard classroom management system, which allows English training units to create common study groups and monitor students’ learning progress. According to an ELSA representative, with exclusive voice recognition and accurate error correction down to each syllable, the ELSA Speak application has more than 10.2 million users in Vietnam and more than 54 million users worldwide. The application can respond, point out mistakes and guide correcting immediately, thereby, helping learners self-correct and overcome the situation of not daring to speak due to fear of being wrong. However, according to the survey statistics of the group “Self-study IELTS 9.0 with ELSA Speak”, more than 90% of users of the application have stopped or used very little after about 3 – 6 months since purchasing the upgrade package. ELSA analyzes the main reason is that learners do not know where to start learning and the number of lessons is large, from daily communication pronunciation practice to IELTS and TOEIC training courses. This makes students confused and difficult to access the learning content. When there is no administrator (admin) to advise, monitor, assign, and test; Without a group of friends to study with, talk to and compete with, students who study alone easily feel depressed, emotionally impaired and find it difficult to maintain regular motivation for a long time. Because of this situation, ELSA company has developed the ELSA Dashboard classroom management system for English centers, teachers and businesses. Accordingly, from now on, this system allows users to create classes and study groups managed by the admin, creating a community learning environment to help solve difficulties in the self-study process.

Marvell

The founders of Marvell have recently launched a $2 billion chips foundry in Singapore. Silicon Box opened a $2 billion advanced semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the city-state on Thursday, as it seeks to broaden adoption of “chiplet” technology. The two-year old startup said in a statement that the 73,000-square metre factory would create over 1,000 jobs with support from Singapore’s Economic Development board. Silicon Box was created by the founders of U.S chipmaker Marvell, Sehat Sutardja and wife Weili Dai, along with current CEO BJ Han. Silicon Box focuses on “chiplets”, or small chips, which can be the size of a grain of sand and are brought together in a process called advanced packaging, a cost-efficient way to bind small semiconductors into form one processor that can power everything from data centres to household appliances. The global chip industry has increasingly embraced the technology in recent years as chip manufacturing costs soar in the race to make transistors small enough to be measured in the number of atoms.

Dat Bike
Gojek has announced a partnership with Dat Bike in the project of bringing electric motorbikes to serve the travel, delivery, and food delivery needs of users on the Gojek application platform. Within the cooperation framework, Dat Bike provides Gojek driver partners with Dat Bike Weaver vehicles to carry out passenger (GoRide), food delivery (GoFood) and delivery (GoSend) services in Vietnam. The Dat Bike Weaver series used by Gojek driver partners in this project is among the top most powerful electric vehicles on the market. With a maximum speed of 90km/h with a range of 200km for each full charge in 3 hours, helping the car to travel a long journey before the next charge, Weaver is considered to be able to help customers. Gojek’s driver partner ensures performance, maintains income, and even saves on gas costs. In Ho Chi Minh City, Gojek driver-partners can charge their batteries for free at dozens of community charging points. In addition, Weaver is equipped with a fast charging port so that it can quickly charge the first 100km in an hour at any household outlet and in 20 minutes at a Dat Bike fast charging station. According to a share from Gojek, the use of Dat Bike Weaver electric vehicle can help driver partners lower fuel costs by more than 4 times compared to gasoline cars, thereby significantly saving operating costs, besides Contributing to environmental protection by stopping waste discharge.

Monk’s Hill Ventures and Golden Gate Ventures
 The CEOs of both Monk’s Hill and Golden Gate shared their views on the state of venture capital, tech, and startups in Vietnam. Mr. Justin Nguyen, CEO of Monk’s Hill Ventures said “It is undeniable that 2022 was a difficult year in raising capital for startups. High inflation, conflict in Ukraine and supply chain disruptions continue to cast shadows over world economies and dampen investor enthusiasm. Even so, this is also a better time to set up a company or invest in early-stage startups in Vietnam. Investors are still attracted by the market’s strong economic growth, young highly skilled population and huge service industry that has been technologically advanced. In fact, Monk’s Hill Venture has seen a 17x year-over-year growth in funding in seed rounds. Venture capital in Vietnam will continue to grow thanks to a favorable business environment and an increasingly important role for the entire Southeast Asian startup ecosystem. Vinnie Lauria, CEO of Golden Gate Ventures added “Vietnam will shine in the context of the global economy facing many challenges and will continue to rise up in the Southeast Asian startup golden triangle including Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia. With global tech giants investing in technology manufacturing in Vietnam, the domestic market is expanding rapidly with an expected GDP of 6.2% (the highest globally) and making Vietnam Nam into a giant magnet that attracts top tech talent. This will create the next generation of dominant tech startups across Southeast Asia. Sectors such as Fintech, Insurtech, Healthtech and Proptech will continue to see strong growth. Besides, climate tech will emerge as another big bet as climate discussion becomes more pervasive and organizations face pressure on ESG (environmental) indicators. school, society, and governance) larger. In addition, Golden Gate Ventures also predicts that Vietnam will turn to product development based on AI technology.”

Marvell

The founders of Marvell have recently launched a $2 billion chips foundry in Singapore. Silicon Box opened a $2 billion advanced semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the city-state on Thursday, as it seeks to broaden adoption of “chiplet” technology. The two-year old startup said in a statement that the 73,000-square metre factory would create over 1,000 jobs with support from Singapore’s Economic Development board. Silicon Box was created by the founders of U.S chipmaker Marvell, Sehat Sutardja and wife Weili Dai, along with current CEO BJ Han. Silicon Box focuses on “chiplets”, or small chips, which can be the size of a grain of sand and are brought together in a process called advanced packaging, a cost-efficient way to bind small semiconductors into form one processor that can power everything from data centres to household appliances. The global chip industry has increasingly embraced the technology in recent years as chip manufacturing costs soar in the race to make transistors small enough to be measured in the number of atoms

FoodMap
Vietnamese agritech company FoodMap has raised $1 million in a bridge round from foreign investors to expand its presence to new markets. Founder and CEO Tung Pham said that existing investors including Vulpes Investment Management, Beenext and Wavemaker Partners participated in this round. A Singapore family office also joined as a new investor. The Ho Chi Minh Citybased company has received a total of $4.5 million in funding since its establishment in 2020. FoodMap connects farmers and small and medium-size agricultural producers with consumers to provide transparency and traceability of farming products. The company offers its services via website and smartphone app.

Clevai
Vietnam’s edtech startup Clevai has raised $4 million in a new funding round to support its expansion plan. This is after raising a $2.1 million pre-series A round back in September 2021 led by Singapore’s Altara Ventures. Its investors from the previous round are FEBE Ventures, a Singapore-based fund focused on Vietnam and Southeast Asia, and U.S. investment firm FJ Labs. The money will be used to enhance Clevai’s live streaming infrastructure and personalize artificial intelligence (AI)-based learning experiences.

Tepbac
Tepbac, a Vietnam-based company, has received $2.25 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Dutch aquaculture investor Aqua-Spark which will assist the shrimp technologist digitize and scale Vietnamese shrimp farm production, AFN reports. Tepbac makes an IoT-enabled hardware and data system for shrimp farmers, and also runs an aquaculture media platform. They will use the funding to scale its suite of technologies to help farmers simplify shrimping operations, save costs and improve decision making

Vuihoc

Vietnamese startup Vuihoc has successfully raised $6 million in a new round of funding, led by investment fund TNB Aura. This is the third time this education startup has successfully raised capital. With the newly raised capital, Vuihoc plans to use it for product development and user acquisition, with the goal of reaching 1 million paying users by 2024. Previously, in 2021, venture capital fund Do Ventures announced an investment in Vuihoc. This is the first funding round of this education startup after two years of operation. By September 2022, Vuihoc had also raised an additional $2 million in bridging funding led by investment fund Bace Capital backed by fintech giant Ant Group. This funding round of Vuihoc also has the participation of a number of other investment funds such as Vulpes Ventures, DT & Investment, Colopl Next and Nextrans.

“EuroCham Việt Nam has submitted a letter to Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, proposing the expansion of Việt Nam’s visitor visa exemption list to encompass all 27 EU member countries. With the aim of promoting trade and investment opportunities, EuroCham Việt Nam has underlined the vital importance of expanding the visitor visa exemption list to encompass all 27 EU member countries.”

“The Southeast Nghe An Economic Zone (SENA) on July 13 confirmed a $293 million investment from Runergy, a leading solar panel manufacturer. The news came through the economic zone’s online portal, announcing that the investment is earmarked for the construction of a silicon and semiconductor manufacturing plant. The significance of this investment was underscored by the prime minister’s presence at the project’s investment certificate presentation, held concurrently with a meeting with several key Chinese economic conglomerates.”

“The year 2022 has affirmed the importance of Vietnam to the U.S. semiconductor giant and vice versa, he said, adding that these performance and efficiency results underpin the need to inject more capital into the Southeast Asian country. By the end of 2021, the Intel Corporation had injected a total of $1.5 billion in Vietnam and it wants to keep investing and that is certainly what Intel will do, he said. Intel Products Vietnam (IPV) is now the largest of the four factories in terms of assembly and testing, he noted. Regarding the possibility that IPV will be upgraded to participate in more stages of the chip production process, he said that their current plan is to focus on packaging and testing.”

“Việt Nam’s digital economy is projected to grow fastest in Southeast Asia, reaching US$50 billion by 2025, a report said. It would be aided mainly by growth in ecommerce, with platforms like Shopee and Lazada and top retailers like Co.opmart moving their businesses online, said a report of the HCM City People’s Committee about e-commerce early this week. The boom in ecommerce has accelerated the country’s digital transformation of businesses in logistics, delivery, tourism, finance, media, and entertainment. Delivery services have grown rapidly thanks to super apps like Grab and Baemin. Online payment systems like e-wallets, e-transaction gates and e-banking have also developed speedily following a surge in online services, with 61 per cent of online purchases used cashless payments last year.”

“Foxconn (2354.TW) is set to invest about $250 million in two new projects in Vietnam, including for the production of components for electric vehicles (EVs), the world’s largest contract electronics assembler and local authorities said on Friday. The move confirms Foxconn’s global plans to become a player in the EV industry, after having focussed for years on assembling electronic products for Apple (AAPL.O) and other major brands. The Taiwanese giant, through its unit Foxconn Singapore, is set to invest approximately $250 million in an industrial park in northern Vietnam, “focusing on the production of electric vehicle components, controllers and other products to meet future development needs,” it said in a statement to Reuters.”

“HCM City will give priority to supporting and nurturing high-tech agricultural production start-ups of young entrepreneurs in an aim to raise the proportion of hightech agriculture in the city’s total agricultural land. According to the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the city has more than 60,000 hectares of agricultural land, but the area under high-tech agriculture is less than one percent. By 2030, it targets to increase the proportion of high-tech agriculture in the city’s total agricultural land by up to 10 percent.”

Full List Coming Soon To https://www.savvicode.com/

TECx 2023 Conference: All about the speakers, sessions, and convergence of creative arts and technology

Network News: Timo Digital Bank, ThinkZone Ventures, VinaCapital, Sky Mavis

Funding:  EQuest, Poko, Stag, Entobel

Vietnam Tech and Startup Environment:  Foreign Direct Investment, Trade Deals, Key Industry Growth, and More

Vietnam has the lowest poverty rate of all Southeast Asian countries Vietnam has the most trade agreements of all Southeast Asian countries By 2050, 59% of electricity in Vietnam will be generated by renewables

VIP Reception

Before the first official day of TECx 2023, speakers and other VIPs were invited to attend the VIP Reception, where they gathered to celebrate the remarkable synergies between technology, film and music, with the presence of diverse speakers from both the US and Vietnam. Together, they experienced how culture, education, technology and the creative arts come together, balancing tradition versus modernity. This took the form of a fireside chat with director Leon Le, Actress Hai Yen, and interviewer Mai Huong Hoang where they discussed the unique position Vietnam currently sits in to benefit from the creative arts and technology coalescing. In addition, several high-tech and culture-centric companies showcased how they are helping to bring about this convergence, including a metaverse company looking to create a digital twin of the entire world called Seensio, an AR company looking to blend the real world with the digital called Geofi, a human augmentation company looking to revolutionize prosthetics called Vulcan Augmetics, the software outsourcing company IMT Solutions, and Vietnamese traditional organic food company ThienKien.

Day One

The first day of the event opened with a keynote speech by Graham Harlow, Deputy Consul General U.S. Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City as he highlighted the commitment of the United States to both the creative and tech industries of Vietnam. Afterwards, there was a tech plenary featuring representatives from McKinsey, Fulbright University, and US-ASEAN, constructed to answer the question: Is Vietnam ready for sustained private equity investments across sectors or are opportunities sector specific? Immediately following this was another plenary about the immense growth of the Vietnamese music industry and the advantages and challenges it faces, featuring Esther Nguyen from POPS Worldwide and Chau Le from Bamboo Artists Agency. After this, there were 4 other tech sessions about the overall market, private equity, health tech and med tech, and climate tech. These sessions featured the likes of Monk’s Hill Ventures, FPT, Tau Investments, Vietnam Investments Group, Mekong Capital, Phoenix Holdings, Google, APAC Med, Verge VC, Quadria Capital, New Energy Nexus Vietnam, Earth Venture Capital, BUYO, and Quest Ventures. There was also one more music session about the history of Vietnamese music featuring Duong Thu, Huy Tuan, and Nguyen Hai Phong along with 3 film sessions. The first which was about tech in the Vietnamese film industry, featured Brad Nguyen, K’Linh Nguyen, and Phil Tran. The second, about using directing techniques to turn Vietnamese films into the country’s golden goose, featured Charlie Nguyen, Vo Thanh Hoa, and Ly Minh Thang. The final was a short film screening by up and coming directors Trinh Quang Minh, Vũ Nguyễn Nam Khuê, Đoàn Tuấn Đức, and Đặng Thảo Nguyên.

Day Two

The second day kicked off with the film plenary about the business of film in Vietnam, with top-level industry experts Lucas Luan Nguyen, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, Phan Xine, Luong Cong Hieu, and Le Hong Lam all discussing the struggles facing the industry and how to overcome them, as well as answering the question: If you had $10 million to invest for guaranteeing the international explosion of the Vietnamese film industry, how would you allocate it? Following this were 6 tech sessions, 4 more film sessions, and 2 music sessions. The tech sessions included topics such as how Private Equity (PE) firms structure their investments in Vietnam, Vietnam’s active VC landscape, games and esports in Vietnam, web3 adoption, fintech, and biotech, with uniquely qualified speakers from HSC, KMPG, Do Ventures, Ascend Ventures, VinaCapital, ThinkZone, Cerberus Esports, Box MCN, Poko App, Wolffun Game, Kyber Network, Timo Digital Bank, IU-VNU, Van Hanh Hospital, and MGI. The film sessions included topics such as Vietnamese animation and VFX, small and large film success, and screenwriting. These sessions featured speakers from Sky Mavis, Sunwolf Animation, Colory, AIOI, CGV, ProductionQ, and individuals Binh Bong Bot, Nhi Bui, Tran Khanh Hoang, Michael Thai, and Matt Dearborn. The two music sessions were about music production, featuring RYO Band, Nguyen Hai Phong, and Denis Dang

UPDATES

Timo Digital Bank
The inspirational project “Timo x Truong Twins” received the PR Awards 2023 in the category “Best communication project in the finance – banking industry” in the Asia-Pacific region. Timo is one of the first and pioneering digital banks in Vietnam, always pursuing a different strategy to maintain its position. The business aims to develop into an ecosystem that touches all aspects of customers’ daily lives, including the financial and non-financial sectors. Commitment to a dynamic, brave and enthusiastic young Vietnamese generation is the similarity that marks the birth of the inspirational project “Timo x Truong Twins”. The project has achieved many memorable and pioneering achievements in the communication industry in the financial – banking sector. An inspirational bank card template as a certificate of Gen Z’s commitment to living life to the fullest and passion. Timo also pioneered to set foot in 18 provinces from North to South, connecting with nearly 50 universities. Digital bank attracts hundreds of thousands of students nationwide to choose “Timo x Truong Twins”, determined to live to the fullest and join hands to build a brave young Vietnamese generation reaching out to the ocean. “This award marks an important milestone for Timo, affirming the strategy and culture that the brand has always pursued – breaking through, pioneering, doing things no one else has done, walking the roads no one else has taken to become should be different and lead,” said Mr. Eichhorst, CEO of Timo.

ThinkZone Ventures
FPT Smart Cloud and domestic investment fund ThinkZone Ventures signed a strategic cooperation agreement to help Vietnamese startups access technology, professional resources and raise capital. The synergy between FPT Smart Cloud and ThinkZone Ventures will bring technology advantages to startups invested by this Fund. The strong infrastructure platform from FPT will allow Vietnamese businesses to break down barriers to the world, quickly access modern technologies and focus on creating new values. According to a report by the global startup community support organization Start-up Genome, startups with international relationships and business ideas abroad will grow in revenue higher than businesses. domestic vision only. Besides the lack of capital, startups also have difficulty in “groping” step by step to carry out important stages such as research and development (R&D) or market expansion. FPT Smart Cloud and ThinkZone act as a bridge between Vietnamese startups and the international market, creating an environment for startups to experiment with new technologies, forming a company development mindset on a global scale. FPT Smart Cloud will support one to one startups invested by ThinkZone Ventures. Leading experts and advisors from FPT and FPT’s partners around the world will accompany the startup through intensive training programs, periodic workshops, consulting on building their own roadmap as well as support. throughout the implementation

VinaCapital
On June 19, 2023, Vina Securities Joint Stock Company (VNSC) signed an agency contract to distribute fund certificates with VinaCapital Fund Management Joint Stock Company (VinaCapital). VinaCapital Fund Management Joint Stock Company was established in 2012 and licensed by the State Securities Commission to establish and manage investment funds, manage investment portfolios… After many years of operation, VinaCapital’s reputation and brand has been affirmed in both domestic and foreign markets. Owning an attractive portfolio, VinaCapital’s investment funds focus on different groups of stocks, with a diverse risk appetite from low to high, suitable for many groups of investors. With VNSC becoming the official distributor of VinaCapital fund certificates on the VNSC by Finhay platform, customers/investors will have more product choices and investment options. In the coming time, the list of fund certificates will continue to be added on the VNSC by Finhay platform. Mr. Brook Taylor – General Director of VinaCapital Fund Management Joint Stock Company, shared: “ This cooperation is in line with the trend taking place in developed markets, when fund management companies combine with other businesses . dynamic financial technology industry to optimize the strengths of both sides. Through our partnership with VNSC by Finhay, we aim to bring investors the best experience along with Vietnam’s leading open-end fund products managed by VinaCapital.”

Sky Mavis
Sky Mavis reached a market capitalization of over 3 billion USD after a successful funding round of 152 million USD in October 2021, also when Axie Infinity reached a record number of nearly two million users. At its peak, up to 3 million users worldwide and is considered the most successful Web 3.0 game of all time. But if you just look at these numbers, few know that the company had a bad start. “In early 2018, most of Axie’s assets at the time were in decline, and it seemed that not only could we not change the world as we had dreamed of, but could even go bankrupt,” said Aleksander Leonard. Larsen – Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sky Mavis shared. The pre-sale of the Axie creatures as well as the Land Plot sale then became a “lifesaver” for the fledgling startup. By early 2019, the company’s financial position gradually improved after a seed round brought in $1.5 million, led by Animoca Brands investment fund. Recently, the company also established a number of its own funds to support more potential projects, as well as build a new office with lots of open space to help employees unleash their creativity. Alek shared. “For employees, we make them feel excited about going to work every day. I want to build a sustainable company that way.” After 5 years, all the founding members still persisted together to build the team that grew from a few dozen people to more than 200 people.

EQuest
Global equity firm KKR has invested close to $100 million in EQuest, a company that seeks to provide students in Vietnam with access to world-class education. The deal is likely to have paved the way for a partial exit for Singapore-based TAEL Partners, which invested in EQuest in 2018. EQuest operates a diversified portfolio across the educational sector in Vietnam, focusing on four core segments including K-12 bilingual schools, tertiary and vocational institutions, English enrichment courses, and digital learning solutions. More than 110,000 students enroll in its segments each year.

Poko
Poko, a Web3 payments startup based in Singapore and Vietnam, was born after social commerce firm Shoppa had to pivot its business model in March 2022. Poko aims to address these issues by enabling seamless transfers of assets from local payment rails to Web3 infrastructure. Its B2B2C model means that most of its main users are Web3 wallets, marketplaces, and decentralized apps and games, according to See. The startup has just raised a US$4.5 million seed round from investors such as Y Combinator, Goodwater Capital, and Global Founders Capital to fuel its growth

Stag

Vietnamese financial education startup Stag has raised $600,000 in its seed round from local investment house Viet Capital Ventures, NH Securities Vietnam – an affiliate of South Korea’s Nonghyup Financial Group, and Singapore-based Resolution Ventures. Stag provides a technology platform for users to learn personal financial management, look up information, market data, and analyze for reference purposes easily and conveniently

Entobel
Singapore-based Entobel, an insect farming company specializing in black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) production for pet food and aquafeed, has secured funding from the International Finance Corp (IFC) to expand its operations in Vietnam. Entobel made the strategic decision to operate in Vietnam, as it is climatically suitable for BSFL, with relatively lower energy costs compared to European markets. The company set up its first plant in Vietnam in 2019 after six years of R&D activities, with a capacity of 1,000 metric tons annually for its H-Meal. Now the company is in the process of completing its second facility in Vietnam’s Vung Tau province, with an expected capacity of producing 10,000 metric tons of H-Meal annually. The plant is expected to be the largest of its kind in Asia, with funding for its construction raised from Entobel’s Series B financing of US$30 million: US$25 million from Mekong Capital and the remaining US$5 million from Dragon Capital

“A number of global semiconductor manufacturers are increasing their presence in Việt Nam, making the Southeast Asian country a rising star in the world semiconductor market. South Korea’s Hanmi Semiconductor, one of the world-class leading manufacturers of semiconductor equipment, announced at the end of May that its branch, based in the northern province of Bắc Ninh, was officially put into operation.”

“Japanese electronics firm Meiko plans to build a factory in northern Hoa Binh Province at a cost of VND4.66 trillion (US$200 million) to produce printed circuit boards. It plans to lease a 9.2-hectare plot of land in this northern province for its fourth plant in Vietnam. Local leaders have voiced support for the project. Meiko first invested in Vietnam in 2006, building a factory in the suburban district of Thach That in Hanoi.”

“Vietnamese B2C e-commerce exports grew 7% last year to $3.5 billion. This figure is expected to increase almost fourfold to $13 billion by 2027, according to Access Partnership, a consulting firm based in the United Kingdom. By 2022, this figure accounted for about 1% of Vietnam’s total exports, according to the report, which relies on data from Vietnam’s customs authorities and reputable organizations such as the Asian Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Bank.”

“Two Chinese makers of energy storage systems and batteries are weighing investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Vietnam, industry and government sources said. The combined value of the investments could exceed $1 billion, according to one person with direct knowledge of the discussions.”

“Hyosung, South Korea’s leading power transformer producer, is expanding long-term operations in Vietnam because it sees 100 years of successful sustainable development in the future here, the company’s chairman said. Joo said his corporation wants to promote the development of large high-tech projects while expanding into the field of information technology.”

“By 2028, Vietnam’s economy is anticipated to have reached approximately $2.21 trillion, placing it among the top 20 economies globally. This impressive growth trajectory highlights Vietnam’s increasing significance on the global stage. As the country continues to implement economic reforms, attract foreign investments, and foster innovation, it is solidifying its position as a rising power in Southeast Asia.”

Full List Coming Soon To https://www.savvicode.com/

HIGHLIGHTS Founder Spotlight: Thuy Mai, Founder and CEO of DiCentral

Big Event Upcoming: TECx 2023

Network News: Glass Egg, Marvell, Quest Ventures, Trihill Capital

Funding: Buyo, Buymed, Teky, Vinfast

Vietnam Tech and Startup Environment: Economic Growth, Vietnamese Investment Abroad, Global Rankings, and More

 Vietnam is set to have the largest sports industry in Southeast Asia within 10 years By 2040, Vietnam will have the most diversified economy in Southeast Asia By 2050, Vietnam’s GDP per capita will be over $32,000

TECx is the premier event celebrating the convergence of technology and the arts. Remarkable advances in AI, machine learning, VR/AR, Metaverse, Geoverse, Blockchain, Biotech, Edtech, Agitech, CleanTech, Robotics, among many other technologies, will revolutionize the human experience. Will PE-type investments accelerate this revolution and capitalize on Vietnam’s ascending growth?
The eighth installation of TECx 2023 highlights how these technologies impact the creative arts and
dive into whether these industries will benefit from PE investments. At the forefront of these technologies is AI, which has rapidly advanced in the past decade, allowing for the creation and manipulation of visual art, including film and TV content. Should AI stories be granted originality for purposes of copyright protection? Who owns such works and how can they be distributed? How about AI-generated characters and voices? The impact of AI in the film and TV industry will be profound.
Similarly, music continues to undergo major changes in production and distribution via technology,
including musical composition and performance in the metaverse. The event will explore several business models for music, in various formats, venues, and metaverse media. Our speakers will also address whether existing licensing, contract, marketing, and other related laws will be applicable in the virtual space or if new regulations will need to be created.
Along with substantive business discussions, the event will feature special sessions for aspiring artists
and other stakeholders in the tech, film and music industries. Everyone is invited to experience this
major Media, Music and Motion event. Attendees will enjoy a truly unique experience unlike any other tech event in Vietnam!

Get your Early Bird Tickets Now before they EXPIRE in 2 DAYS

Thuy Mai, Founder and CEO of DiCentral

Thuy came to the US in 1975 as a refugee, he went to high school in Chicago, Illinois and earned his undergraduate/graduate degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1982/1984 respectively. Thuy worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories & United Space Alliance for NASA program until 2001.

Thuy Mai founded DiCentral and was Chairman/CEO for the entire time before it was acquired in 2021. He was responsible for the company’s overall management, direction, and strategy. DiCentral grew to occupy 7 offices around the world with 650 employees.

From the beginning, DiCentral’s technology was a global product. It simplified complex API and EDI business challenges. EDI, or Electronic Data Interchange, is the electronic exchange of business documents between different companies using a standard format. In other words, it is a method of transferring business documents, such as purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices, between different computer systems in a standardized, machine-readable format. EDI can help to automate business processes by eliminating the need for manual data entry and document processing. This can help to reduce errors, speed up transactions, and improve overall efficiency. By automating business processes and reducing manual data entry and processing, EDI can help companies to reduce costs associated with paperwork, printing, mailing, and manual labor. By the same token, EDI improves accuracy and speed. Overall, EDI can help companies to streamline their operations, reduce costs, improve accuracy, and enhance efficiency in their supply chain management. This indispensable product is a critical tool for companies of all sizes in a wide range of industries. Given its value, it is no surprise that TrueCommerce (WCAS & AKKR), a large strategic, acquired DiCentral for $215M.

Prior to DiCentral, he was the co-founder of MainGate Corporation. At this time, Thuy is an investor and Chairman for Rainscales & Mainbridge Health Partners. He spends his spare time supporting a few charities and pursues some rigorous hobbies such as marathons, competitive table tennis, and water sports.

Join us on May 30 at 10a EST to learn more on how Thuy built an international company from day 1. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83972920600?pwd=eTV3clNvUjYva2tjTEhQUTVzYituUT09 Passcode: 180866

UPDATES

Glass Egg
Virtuos, parent company of newly acquired Glass Egg, is set to become the largest game development company in Vietnam as Glass Egg aims to grow its Dalat team to 50 with local talent by the end of 2023, building upon its success in HCMC. Virtuos Studio today announced the launch of its 2D and 3D art production studio in Dalat, Vietnam. The announcement follows Glass Egg’s acquisition by Virtuos in May 2022, and marks the opening of its second studio in Vietnam. Alongside existing Sparx* and Glass Egg studios in Ho Chi Minh City, the new Dalat studio supports Virtuos’ goal of becoming the largest game developer in Vietnam with 1,500 employees by the end of 2024. Glass Egg aims to grow its Dalat team to 50 with homegrown talent by the end of 2023, leveraging the city’s deep local talent pool and the overall growth of the gaming industry in Vietnam. Drawing inspiration from the city’s renowned landscapes and evergreen forests, Glass Egg’s Dalat studio will specialize in character and environment art – complementing its HCMC studio’s well-established expertise in hard surface modeling and production of 3D vehicles for AAA titles including Need for Speed™ Unbound and Forza Horizon 5. Glass Egg’s Dalat studio will be managed by Nam Nguyen, Deputy CEO, and Thuy Le, Head will be managed by Nam Nguyen, Deputy CEO, and Thuy Le, Head of Production. Together, Nam and Thuy bring over two decades of experience in studio management and strategic development. Nam was also one of the founding members of Glass Egg when it was established in 1999.

Marvell
US’s Marvell Technology, Inc., on May 16 announced the establishment of a world-leading IC design centre in Ho Chi Minh City by upgrading its Marvell Vietnam Technology Company Limited in the city’s District 7. Le Quang Dam, General Director of Marvell Vietnam said that the Marvell Technology is operating 20 development research (RD) centres in regions across the world. With the launching of the centre in Vietnam, Marvell Vietnam will be one of the four world-standard RD centres, along with those in the US, India and Israel. The centre will focus on developing and researching the most advanced IC technologies. It also doubles as a venue for Vietnamese technology engineers to hone their professional skills, opening up many career development opportunities in the field of microchips and semiconductors. Marvell Vietnam currently has about 300 employees, of whom 97% are engineers. Dr. Loi Nguyen, Executive Vice President of Marvell’s Optical and Copper Connectivity Group said that the establishment of the centre is an important step in closing the talent gap and promoting the development of the industry. Marvell is committed to making efforts to attract excellent technical talent to the centre to contribute to the development of job opportunities, careers and a high-value microchip ecosystem in Vietnam, he said.

Quest Ventures
HOMA Sdn Bhd (HOMA2U), a Malaysian marketplace for renovation and interior design materials, announced Tuesday that it secured $875,000 in its pre-series A funding. HOMA2U said in a statement that the investment round was led by Quest Ventures Asia Fund II, an early-stage venture capital fund managed by Quest Ventures Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based venture capital firm. This is Quest Ventures Asia Fund II’s second cheque for HOMA2U. The investment round also includes Worldwide Management Solutions and Qhazanah Sabah Berhad (QSB), the strategic investment arm of the Sabah state government. According to the statement, the funds will fuel HOMA2U’s regional expansion plans to capitalize on a fast-growing market, accelerate product development and expand its market capitalization value, all while striving to promote a circular economy within the renovation and interior design industry. The investment will also be used to support HOMA2U with its growth acceleration and scaling plans to realize its goal of becoming an MYR100 million ($22.42 million) annual revenue-generating company before 2025.

Trihill Capital
UENA, a hyperlocal online food and beverage (F&B) startup based in Indonesia, has raised an undisclosed amount of new funding co-led by the existing investor, East Ventures, and the new investor from Trihill Capital. This new round, that was closed in the first quarter, strengthens UENA’s balance sheet following the seed funding raised in September 2022, UENA said in a statement on Monday. According to the statement, the fund will be used to continue expanding the locations and services to reach more users and customers. V. Ian Sulaiman, VP at Investments at Trihill Capital, said Indonesia predominantly consists of the middle class group. “A growing sub-segment of this group is aspiring middle class who is estimated to represent 45 percent of population only has a monthly spending of $36-80. More often than not, they have difficulties in accessing affordable and nutritious food, especially when available options tend to compromise food safety and hygiene, “We support UENA’s efforts in improving the affordability, availability, and accessibility to daily good food options for the many middle-class Indonesians,” he added.

Buyo
Vietnam-based Buyo, a bioplastic company originally funded by Antler, recently raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding in a round led by Singapore-based family office Aldebaran Capital. Other investors include Angel investors Le Hoang Lan and Lim Tai Tian. The founder has said that the new funding will be used to build a pilot scale production site in Vietnam first before targeting markets in Europe and North America. The company has also filed a patent and is working to obtain international testing certificates.

Buymed
Buymed (known as Thuocsi in Vietnam) has recently raised US$51.5 million in their Series B funding round from major regional investors. The lead investor is UOB Venture Management. Other investors include US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Smilegate Investment, and Cocoon Capital. The fresh money will go toward enhancing the firm’s platforms and infrastructure, expanding its services, and providing affordable distribution methods for medicine and care services.

Teky
Vietnamese educational technology startup Teky Alpha has raised $5 million in funding from Singapore-based impact investment firm Sweef Capital. Existing investor Strategic Year Holdings, a Hong Kong-based investment company with an education focus, also participated in the round. The investment will support the expansion of Teky’s educational services in Vietnam’s public school system and after-school programs for children aged five to 18. The company operates 16 STEAM academies in five cities across Vietnam and has partnered with more than 45 schools across the country to deliver STEAM courses to over 25,000 children.

Vinfast
Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast said on Wednesday it had received a fresh round of funding pledges worth $2.5 billion for its future development, in a move that may signal a new delay to its planned listing in the United States. Of the new pledges, $1 billion will be provided as a grant within the next year from founder Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam’s richest man. Parent company Vingroup will provide a grant of $500 million plus a $1 billion loan with a maturity of up to five years. That would increase total funds raised by VinFast to $10.7 billion. The grants and loan will “give a push for VinFast to accelerate its development.”

“ Vietnam’s Prime Minister approved a long-awaited power plan for this decade that needs $134.7 billion of funding for new power plants and grids, the government said late on Monday, in a move that may help unlock billions of dollars of foreign investment.”

“Investment in Vietnamese startups reached $634 million in 2022, down 56% over the previous year due to the impact of global economic fluctuations. This investment was directed to startups through 134 deals, according to the Vietnam Innovation and Technology Investment 2023 Report, published Thursday by Do Ventures, a venture fund, and the National Innovation Center (NIC).”

“The government has extended the payment deadlines for value-added and income taxes and land rents for a fifth time to support the economy amid the global headwinds.
Extensions of three to six months will be given for VAT incurred between March and August. Priority sectors such as agriculture, forestry, seafood, food processing, garment, construction, transportation, and logistics will see the VAT and personal income tax dates extended to Dec. 31.”

“Apple announced on May 12 that it will open its first online store in Vietnam on May 18 in a bid to boost operations in emerging markets. The online store will have a team of experts who are ready to share expertise in Vietnamese to support customers in need. Online shops often precede the opening of retail stores. Apple already sells products in Vietnam via licensed vendors.”

“More companies in Vietnam have adopted a “strategic, consistent or radical” approach to digitalising customer experience and engagement than the global average, according to a study by DBS.

DBS ranked Vietnam second behind only Singapore in this area, and above eight other surveyed markets including Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mainland China, Taiwan, the UK, and the US.”

“There had been 1,643 Vietnamese-invested valid projects in foreign countries with a total capital of 21.93 billion USD as of late April, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency. Vietnamese investors poured capital into 13 sectors, in which information and communications took the lead with nearly 69% of the total, followed by the agroforestry-fishery, processing and manufacturing, and mining sectors.”

Full List Coming Soon To https://www.savvicode.com/

HIGHLIGHTS Founder Spotlight: Hung Nguyen, Founder and Chairman of LogiGear

Big Event Upcoming: TECx 2023

Network News: Dat Bike, Do Ventures, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Patamar Capital

Funding: MindX, Stringee, VPBank, Bamboo Airways

Vietnam Tech and Startup Environment: Economic Growth, FDI, Tax Incentives, Key Industries, and More

Vietnam maintains the lowest public debt of all Southeast Asian countries By 2050, Vietnam will have one of the top 10 largest green economies in the world Vietnam is likely to be in the top 15 most powerful countries in the world by 2040

TECx is the premier event celebrating the convergence of technology and the arts. Remarkable advances in AI, machine learning, VR/AR, Metaverse, Geoverse, Blockchain, Biotech, Edtech, Agitech, CleanTech, Robotics, among many other technologies, will revolutionize the human experience. Will PE-type investments accelerate this revolution and capitalize on Vietnam’s ascending growth?
The eighth installation of TECx 2023 highlights how these technologies impact the creative arts and
dive into whether these industries will benefit from PE investments. At the forefront of these technologies is AI, which has rapidly advanced in the past decade, allowing for the creation and manipulation of visual art, including film and TV content. Should AI stories be granted originality for purposes of copyright protection? Who owns such works and how can they be distributed? How about AI-generated characters and voices? The impact of AI in the film and TV industry will be profound.
Similarly, music continues to undergo major changes in production and distribution via technology,
including musical composition and performance in the metaverse. The event will explore several business models for music, in various formats, venues, and metaverse media. Our speakers will also address whether existing licensing, contract, marketing, and other related laws will be applicable in the virtual space or if new regulations will need to be created.
Along with substantive business discussions, the event will feature special sessions for aspiring artists
and other stakeholders in the tech, film and music industries. Everyone is invited to experience this
major Media, Music and Motion event. Attendees will enjoy a truly unique experience unlike any other tech event in Vietnam!

Hung Nguyen, Founder and Chairman of LogiGear

Hung came to the US in 1983 as a boat refugee. With just a high school diploma, he arrived in San Francisco with no money. He spent the next ten years working odd jobs. He worked full-time and put himself through college part-time. After nine years of part-time schooling, he finished his undergraduate degree at a small Silicon Valley-based private school, Cogswell Polytechnic College in 1992. At the time, he was also pioneering the art and science of software testing (a subject that probably not many people cared about). Hung is the author and co-author of several well-known and top-selling publications in the field. Early in his career, he was privileged to work with, then a startup, Electronic Arts, led by Trip Hawkins (founder of Electronic Arts), followed by another startup, US Robotics / Palm Computing, led by Jeff Hawkins (co-founder of Palm Computing, PalmPilot, Handspring, and Treo) and Donna Dubinsky (former CEO of Palm, Inc. and co-founder of Handspring). After also serving in technical leadership roles in a few other software companies, he founded LogiGear with headquarters in San Mateo, California in 1994.

Following the creation of LogiGear, the company grew exponentially in the dot.com era. In 2000, he completed an executive education program with the Stanford Graduate School of Business, anticipating further growth at LogiGear. The opposite happened. The dotcom companies busted and so did many of LogiGear’s customers. LogiGear lost almost everything like many other companies in Silicon Valley at the time.

In 2004/5, Hung came full circle and returned to Vietnam. He invested and opened LogiGear Vietnam with offices in Saigon, Danang and Hue, where 700 of its software engineers work today. Hung successfully led the development and launch of a series of Made-in-Vietnam test automation products including TestArchitect and TestArchitect for Visual Studio.

As it grew again, LogiGear acquired a few companies around the world. Hung eventually sold LogiGear to a Japanese public company, Digital Hearts. As of end of 2022, he has stepped out as CEO of LogiGear, but continues to serve as chairman of the board. Nowadays. he manages LogiGear part-time by day, and pursues his passion for music in evening. In between, he finds time to mentor young entrepreneurs. Guess what instrument he plays? Join us on April 27 and find out.

Dat Bike
At the discussion session at the Vietnam Innovation Forum 2023, Mr. Nguyen Ba Canh Son – founder and CEO of Dat Bike – shared about how this startup flexibly improves and overcomes challenges in the business context of economic fluctuations. Accordingly, Dat Bike is not under pressure in the short term and is growing steadily, but this business is always cautiously observing the market. “Most startups want to change the world in some way (through long-term goals), however, resources are finite factors, so in the face of difficulties, businesses need to prioritize short-term or long-term goals,” said Mr. Son. The founder of Dat Bike also shared about the plan to launch models that can bring 10x growth to the company. “In fact, in 2021 and 2022, Dat Bike both recorded a growth rate of 10 times the previous year,” said Mr. Son. However, according to him, to achieve its goal of changing the world from gas cars to electric cars, this startup needs several times like that 10 times growth. “Profit has never been Dat Bike’s number one priority. With the goal of changing the world, short-term profits are not so important. But each car sold still has to be profitable, to prove this business model is effective,” said Mr. Son. Regarding the fundraising process, all of Dat Bike’s capital so far, from 200,000 USD to several million USD, is focused on two things: better product research and improving production scale and access. client.”

Do Ventures
Filipino fintech Advance has successfully secured $16 million in a pre-Series A funding led by Do Ventures out of Vietnam and Lendable, a technology-enabled investment and debt provider to fintechs in emerging markets. New investors Phoenix Holdings, Kaya Founders, Foxmont Capital, Oyster Ventures, and Crossocean Ventures, as well as existing investors Wavemaker Partners, Next Billion Ventures, Integra Partners, and Accion Venture Lab also participated in the round. Along with the fresh funding, Advance announced that it has expanded into Vietnam with the acquisition of a counterpart platform there. With this latest raise, Advance will introduce more innovative financial products and offer its services to more partners in the Philippines and Vietnam. The firm just acquired BravoHr, a Vietnam-based platform that provides digital solutions for employee engagement, benefits, and rewards. “Given the similarities between the financial landscapes of Vietnam and the Philippines, we are positive that the team will be able to apply its playbook to Vietnam’s untapped market and help improve the financial well-being of millions of Vietnamese employees,” said Vy Le, Co-Founder and General Partner of Do Ventures.

Monk’s Hill Ventures
Singapore-based Monk’s Hill Ventures said it will write checks worth between US$2 million and US$10 millionvia its third fund, which it recently closed. The US$200 million third fund will be used to scout regional tech-enabled startups that are in the series A stage, the VC firm told Tech in Asia. Kuo-Yi Lim , co-founder andmanaging partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures, said capital from the third fund had already been deployed toecommerce firms Rainforest and Upmesh, digital health firms Hannah Life, Ordinary Folk, and Novi Health,among others. According to SEC filings , the Singapore-based investor was initially looking to raise US$150million for the fund. It’s not a surprise that overall funding in Southeast Asia has been off to a slow start. Therewere only 47 funding rounds, totaling US$220 million, in January this year – marking the lowest amount ofcapital secured in a month in the last five years. Lim previously told Tech in Asia that amid slowinginvestments, Monk’s Hill “won’t do more deals just because they’re cheaper.”

Patamar Capital
Mapan , an Indonesia-based FinTech startup, announced Tuesday it has closed a successful Series A round of$15 million co-led by Patamar Capital and PT Astra Digital International, a subsidiary of PT Astra InternationalTbk (Astra). The round also saw participation from Indonesian giants BRI Ventures, SMDV, Blibli, PrasetiaDwidharma, and global venture capital firms Flourish Ventures and 500 Global, Mapan said in a statement. The fresh funds will be deployed to grow product range, expand customer reach, and driving financial inclusionthrough the introduction of products that remove barriers and provide access to financing. “We love Mapan’sunique approach to amplify the power of women in the communities. The concept of Arisan has been core toIndonesian culture for many years, and by digitising it, Mapan brought scalability to the age-old practice. We areexcited to play our part in Mapan’s next phase of growth, as it looks to improve financial access and the qualityof lives of Indonesians,” said Patamar Capital Partner Dondi Hananto.

MindX
MindX, a startup that offers training in technology and programming, has received a US$15 million investment from a group of international funds in the Series B round. The funding round was led by Singaporean fund Kaizenvest, which has invested in many famous startups in the field of education technology (edtech), including unicorns Byju’s and upGrad in India, and Yola English Center in Vietnam.

Stringee
Communication platform startup Stringee has just announced it will receive Series A capital from Vietnam Growth Investment Fund DAIWA-SSIAM III. Before the participation of DSVGF, this communication programming platform startup received capital from Zone Startups Ventures Fund (Canada) and 2 million USD in the Pre-series A round, helping the business grow up to 400%. Stringee is serving more than 1000 enterprise customers with 55 million end users. With this capital, it will put all its efforts in product development to new heights to support Vietnamese businesses in digitizing communication and customer care processes, and at the same time deploying business in the US and Indian markets.

VPBank
Japanese lender SMBC has completed a $1.5 billion deal to purchase a 15% stake in Vietnam’s VPBank in the biggest acquisition ever recorded in Vietnam’s banking industry. The $1.5 billion price tag is the biggest amount ever recorded to acquire a stake in a Vietnamese lender. Before VPBank, BIDV sold a 15% stake to KEB Hana Bank for over VND20 trillion ($850.6 million) in 2019. SMBC’s investment will increase VPBank’s capital by 35% to VND140 trillion, the second biggest in the industry behind Vietcombank.

Bamboo Airways
Bamboo Airways plans to make a rights issue of shares to increase its capital by 54%, or nearly VND10 trillion (US$425.44 million), to fund operations and pay off debts. It will offer 35 new shares for every 100 held and the issuance will be made this year. It currently has a charter capital of VND18.5 trillion. The proposal will be presented to shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on Apr. 10. The airline has said it has found a buyer to take it over.

“Samsung considers Vietnam a global manufacturing hub and wants to make it a center of research and innovation, the South Korean giant’s CFO, Park Hark Kyu, has said. In a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, he said he highly regarded Vietnam’s investment and business environment and Samsung wants to make Vietnam the “center of centers” for research and development.”

“Vietnam’s GDP is projected to grow 5.8% this year, sharing the second position with Cambodia in the region, only after the Philippines, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Notably, Vietnam’s public debt is expected to stay at the lowest as compared with eight other ASEAN member countries, the fund said.”

“The government has extended the payment deadlines for value-added and income taxes and land rents for a fifth time to support the economy amid the global headwinds.
Extensions of three to six months will be given for VAT incurred between March and August. Priority sectors such as agriculture, forestry, seafood, food processing, garment, construction, transportation, and logistics will see the VAT and personal income tax dates extended to Dec. 31.”

“Vietnam’s food industry is growing strongly thanks to people’s improved income, increased purchasing power, and the supply of diverse and highly competitive products, an official told a policy dialogue in Hanoi on April 13.”

“President Vo Van Thuong has asked the Vietnamese community in Laos to set its sights on long-term sustainable business growth even though weathering current short-term difficulties will be difficult.”

“The Mekong Delta region needs to sketch out a direction for sustainable, safe and long-term agriculture development, thus promoting the development of the green economy and enhancing the competitiveness of local farm products, said insiders.”

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Founder Spotlight: Rafael Masters and Hạ (Ella) Trịnh, Pioneers of Vulcan Augmetics

Network News: JK Technologies, AuMBER, Antler, VinaCapital Ventures

Funding: Medigo, F88, Masan Group, Rootopia

Vietnam Tech and Startup Environment Internal and External Investment, Economic Diplomacy, and Policy Changes.

By 2028, Vietnam’s economy will officially surpass Thailand’s By 2036, Vietnam will be the 20th largest economy in the world and 2nd in SEA Vietnam is likely to have the 5th largest film industry in the world by 2050

Rafael Masters and Hạ (Ella) Trịnh, Pioneers of Vulcan Augmetics

Entrepreneurship For Good
Rafael Masters and Ella Trinh make up the dream team behind Vulcan Augmetics, an innovative prosthetics company attempting to make losing a body part nothing more than a temporary inconvenience. But who are the two honorable founders behind this lofty ambition? Ella grew up in Phu Yen in central Vietnam, spending a lot of her younger life around veterans and the disabled, due to her father’s work. After graduating from the London School of Commerce, she decided she wanted to come back to Vietnam and contribute back to the country. Ella believes that the Vietnamese are fierce doers, hardworking with high performance, making Vietnam a place of great potential to start a business.

She founded her own startup solo, Boss Lady, which had to wind down, teaching her a lot about sales and online marketing but also that its hard to do things as a one woman team. She then worked in two more startups, gathering experience and learning more about how to run a business, and always keeping an eye open for the next inspiration, and waiting for the chance to build again.

In 2018 she took a job at Alley51, a venture studio, as a project manager, and it was here she met Vulcan. Initially brought in to help accelerate company growth and build the organization, she soon took on a much larger role and was brought on as cofounder within 6 months. Since then she has recruited top talent, created a resilient and innovative organization, and built up a nationwide sales network of clinics and partners, all in the name of improving the lives of millions. At Vulcan she makes sure things are executed fast and effectively across all departments – by having the best people in the team, the most efficient processes in place, the most powerful culture to facilitate it, and the most strategic partners in the business ecosystem. Everything she does ensures those in need get the augmentations they require in a timely manner.

Rafael was raised in a village in the south of the UK, just down the road from Lord Mayor Treloars College, the largest disabled college in the country. Many of his friends as a teenager were wheelchair-bound, or heavily dependent on technology to live full lives, and their resilience and pragmatism were a deep influence. After graduating from University with a degree in Philosophy, he went to Vietnam to travel and work, teaching English for a year before returning to the UK. While in Vietnam however, he came to love the country, the culture and his career in education, and decided to stay. He progressed from teaching to academic development and management.

Rafael decided after 8 years it was time to build something that would make a difference on a much larger scale. He had seen that Vietnam was a country of tremendous potential, with people who were creative, pragmatic and ambitious, but he didn’t yet know enough about business to do the opportunity justice, so he took an MBA. During this time he also started learning more about 3D printing and design, and became involved with the local maker community which opened his eyes to the technological possibilities becoming available. Shortly after graduating he met Akshay, a representative of a venture studio called Alley51, at a networking event. After talking about 3D printing, maker spaces, and entrepreneurship for several hours, Rafael was invited to pitch Alley51 his startup idea and Vulcan Augmetics was born.

In the years since Vulcan was founded Rafael has continued to learn and adapt, incorporating new technology in the most efficient way, and ensuring that the company has built a brand and product that is aligned with real user requirements. His mantra is “Make what the user needs, not what you wish they needed”. At Vulcan he ensures that the company is moving in the right direction with a clear plan, managing tech development, finance and business strategy. Vulcan products are designed with accessibility for the end user clearly in mind, and he makes sure that this is considered at every stage of the development process, and that Vulcan is always aware of the user experience before they commit pen to paper.

Please join us to learn more about this company doing good with technology on March 30 at 8:00p Vietnam time, 9a ET. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88044885567?pwd=bFd3VmhDWGloZUUxbVNJR0N2Mlphdz09

JK Technologies
JK Technologies is a Houston, Texas – based technology company with five years of experience in the cutting-edge fields of VR and AR technology. The company specializes in creating immersive and interactive solutions for businesses, educational institutions, and content creators, leveraging their expertise in XR (VR, AR, and MR) technologies to deliver unparalleled customer experiences. One of JK Technologies’ flagship products is SEENSIO, an innovative metaverse platform that aims to virtualize Earth, providing an immersive and engaging environment for users. SEENSIO empowers businesses to establish memorable interactions and build thriving customer communities by focusing on delivering personalized experiences, immersive branding opportunities, real-time interactions, gamification, accessibility, and innovative learning and training solutions. As a pioneer in the field of XR technologies, JK Technologies is committed to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the virtual world. With their team of dedicated professionals, the company continually refines and enhances SEENSIO to ensure it remains at the forefront of the rapidly evolving metaverse landscape. By combining their passion for innovation with a deep understanding of their clients’ needs, JK Technologies is dedicated to helping businesses succeed in the digital age through the power of the SEENSIO metaverse platform.

AuMBER
AuMBER, the IoT device cloud testing platform which allows anyone to add their own smart devices to the
cloud for software developers and testers to test their apps on, will be exiting its beta and entering its official release in April. In addition, they will be launching an additional platform which allows anyone in the world to add their devices to the cloud to be accessed for reasons other than app testing. Users can leave a phone at home and access it from anywhere, even if they travel to other countries. They can access devices in other countries as a type of hardware VPN service. The use cases are up to the users. AuMBER has also announced that they are looking to partner with local Vietnamese device stores who can add devices which are currently sitting idle to the AuMBER cloud and begin generating income from them while the stores are closed. Soon, AuMBER hopes to encourage people around the world to add their old smart devices to their cloud instead of trading them in or disposing of them, adding to the sustainability of the company and the world. By the end of the second quarter of 2023, the founders hope to raise funding from investors, partner with their first large mobile device store chain, and gain their first large enterprise customer, which they are already in the process of doing. They are open to any assistance from the SAVVi community. If anyone has anything to offer, they can be reached at info@aumber.io.

Antler
Antler Vietnam has begun recruiting founders for it’s 4th cohort. To date, they’ve invested in 20 companies
across their first 3 cohorts. They fund companies from day 0 and with no risk on the part of the founders. All that is needed to be accepted is an idea and the determination to pull it off. Their portfolio includes the likes of SAVVi community member AuMBER and on-demand warehousing platform Wareflex. The application to
apply can be found here: https://www.antler.co/location/vietnam. Antler is currently particularly interested in increasing it’s number of qualified female founders and tech founders, two segments where it already excels compared to its peers, but believes there is always room for improvement. Founders who apply do not need to be Vietnamese citizens. They just need to be building in Vietnam.

VinaCapital Ventures
VinaCapital Ventures is on the cusp of closing its most recent fund. “We are in the process of closing our final deals over the next three months, before we stop investing in new startups . About two-thirds of the value of the remaining fund will be earmarked to further invest in the companies in our portfolio,” said Hoang Duc Trung, Director of VinaCapital Ventures. The second fund of VinaCapital Ventures started operating in 2018 and has invested $26 million in 17 companies, including Rever, Logivan, Koina, An Vui and many others. VinaCapital Ventures is managing about 100 million USD with the expectation of profit of about 20%/year. “On average, 16% is the odds a fund can survive and return investors. If it reaches 16 to 30%, it’s good, but over 30% is better. Venture capital is about taking risks, so the expectation of profit must be big enough,” Trung said. VinaCapital Ventures will continue to launch a third fund in the second half of this year, targeting companies creating technology solutions in deeper funding rounds.

Medigo
Medigo, a Vietnam-based company which helps users order medicine from trusted pharmacies close to them online, just raised $2 million from East Ventures. The company plans to use the investment to “strengthen its service and develop a healthcare ecosystem in Vietnam” by including remote doctor consultation and quick medicine delivery 24/7 within 20 minutes.

Masan Group
Retail giant Masan Group has secured $650 million in a syndicated loan from a group of lenders to fund future operations. The loan was provided by BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and the United Overseas Bank, in which $375 million have been committed , Masan said in a statement Friday. The loan has a five-year tenor with an annual interest rate of 8%. Including another $600 million loan that was secured at the end of November, the company could potentially get $1.25 billion in new financing within over three months.

Rootopia
Rootopia, a fintech startup connecting students with angel investors in Vietnam, has secured US$1 million in a pre-seed round from Genesia Ventures,
ThinkZone Venture, and BK Fund.
With the funding, Rootopia plans to grow its early user base to reach productmarket fit. It will also improve its technology platform to serve more students to uplift their future through better education.

“More than 50 companies, including defense,pharmaceutical and tech firms, will participate in themission organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council,an industry body, according to a list seen by Reuters.”

“Vietnam’s outbound investments reached $115.1 million in the first two months of this year, 2.16 times higher than that the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
Of the sum, $109.4 million was poured into 10 new projects, a 2.1-fold rise year-on-year. Meanwhile, four other projects increased their capital by nearly $5.7 million.”

“Vietnam needs to strengthen its economic diplomacy to attract investments from multinational companies and achieve green transformation and sustainable development, PM Pham Minh Chinh has said. Chairing a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, he said Vietnam has gradually shifted its focus to diplomacy to serve socio-economic recovery and development.”

“Samsung Vietnam’s four factories recorded a revenue of nearly $71 billion last year, accounting for 30% of the South Korean’s electronic giants. The four factories posted a profit of $4.6 billion, according to the giant’s earnings report.”

“Trade in just 12 key markets (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Việt Nam), known as the Asia 12, accounts for 88 per cent of intra-Asia trade today and could more than double in value from US$6.4 trillion in 2020 to $13.5 trillion in 2030.”

“The Government chief tasked subordinate levels to amend and supplement entry and exit policies for international arrivals in the direction of increasing the number of countries to the current visa waiver scheme with longer duration of visa-free stay, and expanding evisa program.”

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Founder Spotlight: Phil Tran, Founder of Glass Egg in Senior Success: Entrepreneurship At Any Age

Network News: ELSA, POPS, LogiGear, Golden Gate Ventures

Funding: Gimo, Aura Network, Koina, Quqo, ODA.vn

Vietnam Tech and Startup Environment
Financing, Regulations, Industry Focuses, Trade Milestones, and More.

Vietnam has the third highest number of unicorns in Southeast Asia
Vietnam is in the top 20 highest FDI recipients in the world and the highest is SEA
The VND currency is the most stable in Southeast Asia

Phil Tran, Founder of Glass Egg

Senior Success: Entrepreneurship At Any Age
Phil Tran left Vietnam in the last days of the War and settled in San Diego when he was twelve years old. Near where he lived, the famous singer Khanh Ly opened Que Huong, the first Asian supermaket in San Diego. In it was a tiny bookshop, selling old classics reprinted from copies some refugees happened to take with them. There were not many, but he read most of them. It wasn’t until four years later that he was able to comprehend English books.The first English book he read was Gone With The Wind.

Twenty one years later, in 1994, as he was studying for a lawschool exam, he heard on TV that the US was lifting its embargo against Vietnam. The news triggered his curiosity, and that summer he took a summer job at a law firm in Hanoi. The job gave him a wide view on the different industries in Vietnam where foreigners were making investments. He was impressed by the pent-up energy and the entrepreneurial spirit of the people he met.He knew he had to be a part of it.

In 1999, with financial backing from Dragon Capital, a leading PE firm in Vietnam, he opened Glass Egg Digital Media Ltd., a highly specilalised 3D graphics studio serving the growing computer games markets in the US. As such service was virtually unknown, Glass Egg had to go through a long and difficult time. The lowest was in 2009, during the financial crisis, when companies worldwide were forced to pull back on their outsourcing projects.

Keeping it together as 2010 started to see the markets return, Glass Egg began to see a growing demand for its services.That surge of growth sustained a positive trajectory for 13 years. Today Glass Egg occupies 3 floors of Ree Tower and was just licensed for a satellite studio in Dalat.All in all, GE has nearly 500 engineers, graphics artists, and managers.In late 2021, a friendly competitor and indusrty leader expressed an interest in acquiring Glass Egg. Phil Tran closed the transaction on May 18, 2022. At 59, Phil successfully exited Glass Egg at its peak and is now semi retired.

During his time in Vietnam, besides Glass Egg, Phil together with some partners founded a variety of startups, most notably Lush, the oldest night club in HCMC; Glowie, a talent hunting mobile app; Pasteur Street Beer, a craft beer establishment; and Blush, a top grade beach club in Danang Vietnam.

Phil now spends his time polishing and pitching a 30 episodes TV series, Đúng Sai Ai Biết. The series is a parable of his life and work in Vietnam. It took him two years to write. The film industry is not new to Phil. His family made the first feature for Vietnam {Kiếp Hoa, 1950). He had been involved in the making of prior feature films like Funny Money (Tiền Chùa, 2013) and Go Go Sisters (Tháng Năm Rực Rỡ, 2016). He also spends time learning to write songs for his girlfriend, Phuong, “a songtress with the sweetest of voices”, said Phil. While Glass Egg was his life for over 20 years, his passion remains in writing, music and film.

You are invited to a Zoom webinar on Feb 28, 2023 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: SAVVi Founder Spotlight Series: Phil Tran, Senior Success

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88986565679?pwd=aldVQzJNaktGOWZqMmJwUnNpOHlRUT09
Passcode: 341166

UPDATES

ELSA

After launching the application of learning to speak English by AI ELSA Speak, ELSA has attracted attention at home and abroad as the first Vietnamese startup to reach the final and win the SXSW Edu Launch 2016 Education Technology Exhibition in the US. The application is invested by Google’s Gradient Ventures fund, the top 5 lot “Artificial intelligence applications” according to Research Snipers. In addition to achievements in the international arena, ELSA has just ended 2022 with 3 consecutive victories at the awards “Typical Education Technology”, “Famous Vietnamese Brand” and “Products and Services” good quality” in 2022 by the Center for Consumer Protection thanks to its significant contributions to improving the foreign language skills of more than 10 million Vietnamese.

POPS

Back in August of last year, Asian media giant POPS Worldwide announced its metaverse entry with DinoPOPS NFT launch which continues to this day, shaken but not erased by the crypto and overall market volatility. “Web3 is all about decentralisation, individuals and true personal ownership. As an audience-first company, we’re inviting DinoPOPS holders and collectors to be the owners of the IP, not just buyers. It is empowered by our efforts to bring win-win utilities like long-term revenue share schemes to DinoPOPS owners and Metaverse activities in the future”, said Ms. Esther Nguyen, the Founder and CEO of POPS Worldwide. “This NFT launch plays a key role in POPS’ strategy to build a massive and dynamic digital ecosystem. We are excited to bring one of our biggest IPs to life through an algorithmically generated digital collectibles. This is just the beginning as we pave the way for our IPs and artists to enter the next stage to Web3 and metaverse.”

LogiGear

LogiGear, a leading provider of test automation and QA services, continues to expand and transform its business into an enterprise solutions services company through strategic M&A and new services offerings, beyond premium test automation and QA services. Jim Ellis assumes the role of CEO of LogiGear Group to focus on future expansion and integration of the growing group of companies, offering clients digital modernization and transformation services. Mr. Ellis brings to LogiGear several decades of entrepreneur experience including new business formation and enterprise value creation, accelerating growth and M&A. While the company pushes forward with its expansion plans, Hung Nguyen will continue to serve as Chairman/CEO of LogiGear Corporation. Looking forward, LogiGear has more M&A on the horizon, as part of providing specialization across all major SaaS services, platforms, and technologies, specifically focusing on CRM and ERP, delivered on a global scale.

Golden Gate Ventures

On a recent morning, Vinnie Lauria found himself weaving through the clogged, narrow streets of Ho Chi Minh City on a motorbike with his three-year-old son as they navigated the morning rush to school. Had he still been living in Silicon Valley the commute would have been less adventurous, but this was where the action was.
Lauria, an American expat and co-founder of Golden Gate Ventures, relocated to Ho Chi Minh City in 2022 after previous stints in Singapore and San Francisco, joining a growing number of foreigners lured there by a belief that the dense metropolis is a new mecca for startups. “Southeast Asia is going to be a global growth engine in the next 10 years and Vietnam will be at the center of it,” said Lauria, sporting a pony tail and dressed tech casual in a printed shirt and white shorts. The number of startups in the country nearly doubled from the beginning of the pandemic through mid-2022, according a July report by KPMG International Ltd. and HSBC Holdings Plc. Some of the world’s biggest investors, including Sequoia Capital, Warburg Pincus LLC and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., are backing those offering promising solutions.

GIMO

Vietnam’s on-demand salary payment startup GIMO has raised $4.6 million in a Series A funding round. The startup, which offers nearly instant payroll to blue-collar workers whenever they need it, has secured the cash from Southeast Asia-focused venture capital company TNB Aura, among others, DealStreetAsia reported. In 2021, the company raised $1.9 million from a group of investors led by Integra Partners.

Aura Network

Vietnamese non-fungible token (NFT) platform Aura Network has closed the fundraising round of $4 million, with Hashed and Coin98 Ventures co-leading the round. Following the strategic advisory partnership announcement with Republic Crypto, this is the next committed milestone ahead of its Mainnet launch in the first quarter of 2023, Aura Network said in a statement on Wednesday. In this fundraising round, Aura Network engaged some notable blockchain projects, including GuildFi, Istari Ventures, Republic Crypto and other angel investors.

Koina

VinaCapital Ventures, the technology investment vehicle of VinaCapital Group, announced last week that it is investing $1 million in Koina, a Vietnam-based data-driven Farm-to-Business (F2B) agriculture technology platform.
VinaCapital Ventures said in a statement that its investment comes as part of a seed extension round of fundraising by Koina.

Quqo

Vietnamese venture capital firm Touchstone Partners has on Tuesday announced that it is investing $1 million in a seed round in Quqo, a Vietnam- based asset-light business to business (B2B) distribution platform that connects buyers, suppliers, and end-consumers in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. Touchstone Partners said in a statement that the investment will enable Quqo to grow its team together with its customer base and expand its distribution network across Vietnam.

ODA.vn

Touchstone Partners today announced that it is leading a consortium that has committed to investing USD1 million in Oda, a food procurement system for restaurants and suppliers that streamlines ordering, saves money, and reduces food waste. Oda will use the capital to further build the core software technology, refine the app’s user interface, and improve big data analytics capabilities to better predict market trends and ingredient quantities.

“The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has led a US$135 million financing package for Vietnam-based automotive firm VinFast to manufacture the country’s first fully- electric public transport bus fleet and first electric-vehicle charging network.”

“Vietnam has approved a National Green Growth Strategy for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050. It has made strong commitments such as zeroing net emissions by mid-century, reducing global methane emissions by 2030, joining the Glasgow declaration on forests and land use, and the global declaration on transitioning coal power into clean energy.”

“The Vietnamese government has demanded that tech firms keep user data within the country’s borders, urging them to open up local branches, Reuters reported. Effective October 1, foreign tech giants such as Google and Facebook will be given 12 months to open local offices and will need to store user data in Vietnam for at least 24 months.”

“Vietnam’s stable economic and political context has opened up opportunities to attract foreign investment by world-leading semiconductor corporations for the research, application and development of new technologies, such as AI, IoT, and Big Data.”

“Vietnam is viewed as a country with high potential for fast digital economic development and digital transformation trend across all fields. It has set a target to post 31 percent growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) from US$23 billion in 2022 to US$49 billion in 2025, the highest growth in the region, according to the “e-Conomy SEA 2022″ report released by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company in October.”

“Exports continued growing at a double-digit rate, yielding a trade surplus of nearly US$4 billion in the first eight months. Could you share the reasons behind this achievement?In the first eight months of 2022, foreign trade value totaled approximately US$500 billion, with import and export value growing 13.6 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.”

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Founder Spotlight: Binh Dang, Founder of MeridianLink

Network News: Jungle Ventures, OP3N, Patamar Capital, VinaCapital

Funding: Antler Companies, Open Commerce, Infina, SoBanHang, Jio Health

Vietnam Tech and Startup Environment
Investment Increases, R&D Centers, Tech Unicorns, and More

Vietnamese is the fifth most spoken language in the US and is rising fast
Vietnam’s average unemployment rate for the past 10 years is 1.7%, among the lowest
FDI into Vietnam increases by about 8% per year

Binh Dang, Founder of MeridianLink

In 2018, after 18 years building out MeridianLink, Binh Dang sold his 50% ownership stake to Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm specializing in acquiring software companies and has over $114 billion in assets under management. When he exited, Dang, who had served as the CEO from inception until 2016, created an over 80% annualized ROI. MeridianLink went public in 2021 on the NYSE with a market valuation of over $2 billion at the time of the IPO.
Thoma Bravo had acquired MeridianLink and CRIF Lending Solutions to merge them for an undisclosed amount. The combined organization became MeridianLink and served approximately 1,200 customers and over 300,000 end users at the close of the merger.

The merger was meant to enable the combined organization to extend technology investments into privacy protections and best-in-class data analytics for financial institutions. Like most PE deals, it was financed in part by a $350 million senior secured credit facility arranged.

Dang founded the company with a friend in college as a software consulting company. They used their money and knowledge acquired providing consulting to transform the company into a product company. Their first product, MortgageCreditLink, was a credit reporting system for mortgages. It made the company profitable within 12 months of release. This product financially supported the development of the company’s next two products.

Their strong growth and cash flow, along with an internal conflict among the management team that went public through court litigation, attracted the interest of Thoma Bravo, who viewed this as an opportunity to consolidate the market. MeridianLink at the time was considered the “800-pound gorilla in the consumer Loan Origination Software (LOS) space, in both functionality and number of clients.” Analysts opined that the merger will stabilize MeridianLink’s management issues and avoid unnecessary duplication in technology.
Dang is now applying the knowledge and capital he acquired from his experience with MeridianLink to launch his new company, Quest for Justice.
On January 27th, 2023, 10:30 a.m. (PST), please join SAVVi in an exclusive Zoom interview where Binh Dang, co-founder and former CEO of Meridianlink, will share his experience in selling his company to Thoma Bravo.
Get your questions for Binh Dang ready and save the LINK!
Click the link below to join the webinar:
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UPDATES

Jungle Ventures

Singapore-based venture firm Jungle Ventures is digging deeper into Southeast Asia and India with the close of its fourth fund. Fund IV totals $600 million, with $450 million for new investments and $150 million earmarked for follow-up investments in its portfolio companies. The fund’s close brings Jungle Ventures’ total assets under management to over $1 billion, which it says makes it the first independent, Singapore-headquartered venture firm that invests across Southeast Asia and India to hit this milestone. Jungle Ventures was founded in 2012 by Amit Anand and Anurag Srivastava, launching with a $10 million debut fund. Jungle Ventures has about 60 portfolio companies and says its enterprise value is over $12 billion on $250 million of invested capital, with a loss ratio of less than 5%.
Some of Jungle Ventures’ most notable investments include unicorns Kredivo, Livspace and Moglix. It looks for companies that can expand between Southeast Asia and India; for example, Livspace was founded in India and now operates in Southeast Asia, too.

OP3N

Now United, the global pop group launched by American Idol creator Simon Fuller in 2016, will be the subject of an interactive live-action musical film hosted on the NFT platform OP3N. The film will be exclusively available to NFT pass holders on the OP3N app, which was launched in 2021. The project is being mounted in partnership with Culture Catalyst, a $100 million initiative to fund and support the development of arts, entertainment and culture projects on the Avalanche public blockchain developed by Ava Labs. The musical, which will feature members of Now United and original songs, is designed to inspire schools to create their own version of performances featured in the film and compete to win a contest on the OP3N platform as voted on by community members.

Patamar Capital

Beacon, a women-focused investment firm backed by Singapore-based Patamar Capital, announced that it has launched Beacon Fund, an investment vehicle with an initial target of US$50 million, to invest in female entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia. Having already raised around 25% of its goal amount, the fund’s initial focus will be on debt products, which Beacon said tend to be a better fit for the moderate-growth and cash flow- positive businesses that the fund targets. The investment vehicle’s check sizes would range from US$500,000 to US$2 million, though it said this could be smaller if it spots businesses that contribute to Covid-19 recovery measures, according to a statement. Beacon Fund will invest in companies that match its target profile, including startups in sectors like education, agribusiness, and healthcare, among others. The fund is expected to make its first investment before the end of the year.

VinaCapital

Vietravel Holdings has sold 1.78 million shares of tourism company Vietravel, or a 10.3% stake, to investment fund VinaCapital. The deal was made on December 23 at a price of VND24,000 ($1) per share, more than 10% higher than its current market price of VND21,300. The Hanoi Stock Exchange restricted trading in the VTR stock on the UPCoM market to Fridays since September 13 on account of negative equity. After the sale to VinaCapital, Vietravel Holdings owns 5.26 million VTR shares, or 30.38% of the tourism company. Vietravel reported profits of nearly VND7 billion ($282,000) in the third quarter after incurring losses during the two previous quarters. The company reported revenues of VND1.49 trillion in the third quarter, 25 times up from a year earlier. Its carrier, Vietravel Airlines, began a daily Hanoi-Bangkok service in mid-December, and plans to launch HCMC-Bangkok services in early February 2023.

Antler Vietnam’s Second Cohort Companies

7 of Antler Vietnam’s companies: AuMBER, BUYO, Edupops, Kyons, Neoloka, Petgotchi, and Shelfi participated in Antler Vietnam’s Investor Night on the 12th of January. Each company pitched to over 100 VC representatives in person. They are all actively looking for funding. Their information can be found here https://www.antler.co/portfolio