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SAVVi Newsletter

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INAUGURAL

NEWSLETTER

All the latest news about Viet tech, startups, founders, investors, and unique investment opportunities

Issue 1, October 2022

SAVVi

HIGHLIGHTS

Founder Spotlight: Loi Nguyen of Inphi Exits Second Time For $10 Billion

Join us for an insider’s Zoom interview with Loi Nguyen on October 28th, at 8:30 am PST.

Network News: Dat Bike, Elsa, POPS, and Toong

Funding: AuMBER, Dat Bike, OnSky Health, POPS, Tititada

Vietnam Tech and Startup Environment

DID YOU KNOW?

Estimate value of Viet tech exits in the last 5 years reached $50 Billion
Total number of patents by Viet inventors surpasses IBM
Vietnam is the fastest growing economy in Asia for 2022

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Loi Nguyen of Inphi Exits Second Time For $10 Billion

Lightning doesn’t usually strike twice, but in Loi Nguyen’s case, his company, Inphi, has “exited” twice. Nguyen incorporated Inphi with two other colleagues in November 2000, raising $12M in funding from Tallwood Venture Capital of Palo Alto, California, and Mayfield Fund of Menlo Park, California. Ten years later, Inphi went public in November 2010 at a valuation of over $300M. Its stock rose over 65% within one month, closing the year as one of the hottest IPOs for 2010. A decade later, Inphi was sold for $10 billion to Marvell in an unsolicited merger. The Marvell offer for Inphi’s shares was a whopping 42% premium. This deal remarkably consumed almost half of the total M&A value of $22.7 billion for all semiconductor company acquisitions in 2021.


At the time of the IPO in 2010, Inphi was a fabless provider of high-speed analog semiconductor solutions for the communications, networking and computing applications. By 2021, Inphi was the leader in high- speed data movement, moving big data fast around the world’s data centers by offering high-speed analog, DSP and optical semiconductor solutions for the cloud and service provider communication markets. Marvell needed much higher bandwidth data center interconnect solutions that Inphi provides. The Inphi acquisition allowed Marvell to offer complete optical and copper connectivity solutions for cloud datacenter, enterprise, and carrier markets.

Nguyen was born in Vietnam and excelled while studying at Cornell. However, Nguyen’s professional path didn’t take him back to Vietnam until 2019 when Inphi acquired eSilicon, including its Vietnam assets, for

$216M. One year later, in 2020, Inphi acquired Vietnam-based Arrive Technologies, a company founded in 2001 by the late Lac Trinh.

Outside of work, Nguyen is an accomplished wildlife photographer with a passion for wildlife conservation. His images have been featured by leading nature and wildlife organizations such as Nature’s Best, North American Nature Photographer Association (NANPA), National Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife, National Audubon, among others.

Outside of work, Nguyen is an accomplished wildlife photographer with a passion for wildlife conservation. His images have been featured by leading nature and wildlife organizations such as Nature’s Best, North American Nature Photographer Association (NANPA), National Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife, National Audubon, among others.

Come join us later this month when Nguyen is interviewed by SAVVi’s Chairman and President, Huy Do. We look forward to sharing Nguyen’s Inphi adventure and lessons learned to all aspiring entrepreneurs.


Mark your calendar, October 28th, 10am PST for a Zoom interview with Loi Nguyen.

SAVVI NETWORK NEWS

UPDATES

ELSA

The English learning app founded by Van Vu with more than 10 million downloads in Vietnam has appeared offline, in collaboration with the FAHASA bookstore and tiNiStore, to put the learning packages on the app into direct sale at many stores, making it easy for Vietnamese people to approach solutions to improve English communication skills. This cooperation between ELSA Speak and offline sales channels is considered a new breakthrough in the field of EdTech, helping remove barriers between online and offline approaches.

POPS

The leading digital entertainment company in Southeast Asia is going on content for children, sourcing shows and movies from many regions, especially the US. Already having over 523 million subscribers, their strategy for grabbing an even more significant portion of the market appeals to children and parents. They’re investing heavily in streaming rights of popular children’s shows worldwide and localizing them to POPS’ core markets. The tactic appears to be working, with solid month-over-month subscriber growth.

EVENTS

28 October

Interview with Loi Nguyen

  • 10am PST
  • Zoom Call

05 November – 07 November

VIETRF (VIETNAM INT’L RETAIL & FRANCHISE SHOW):

17 November – 19 November

NEPCON VIETNAM

20 October

TECH Meetup

15 October

Make Vietnam Digital Product Awards

19 October – 20 October

Vietnam Blockchain Summit

Dat Bike

The electric motorbike company recently unveiled its new project meant to enhance its existing product, Dat Charge; an electric motorbike charging station which, in only 20 minutes, can charge Dat Bike’s vehicles to travel up to 100km. This is the fastest electric motorbike charging speed ever in Vietnam. The aim of this launch is to close the gap between gasoline-fueled and electric motorbikes, making it more convenient to own and drive the latter. The launch event of Dat Charge is a step that marks the development and perfection of the Vietnamese startup’s technology. Realizing that the Vietnamese market currently does not have a common standard for a fast charging port for electric motorbikes, Dat Bike hopes that the launch of Dat Charge will make them a pioneer in the research and application of standardized fast charging ports for all electric motorcycles in the Vietnam market for the future.


Toong

The co-working space chain has just expanded to a new location at OfficeHaus building, Tan Phu district, Ho Chi Minh City. Tan Phu is an increasingly popular location for small businesses and startups to set up their offices, which is why costs for office leases are skyrocketing there. Toong is capitalizing on this demand by opening yet another co-working space there, bringing its total to 18 spaces in Ho Chi Minh City and 20 overall. It is sharing the venue with the likes of Mercedes.

FUNDING

AuMBER Raising Seed Round

AuMBER, a crowd-sourced cloud testing platform, will begin raising its seed round sometime before February 2023, following their initial customer acquisition and generation of revenue. Pre-seed funding was supplied by VC firm Antler in their second cohort in Vietnam.

Dat Bike Closed Series A Round

Led by Jungle Ventures and Wavemaker Partners, Dat Bike, the leading electric motorbike company in Vietnam, closed a $3M series A round this past summer. It is growing exponentially as the pandemic has settled and is expecting to raise a growth round later this year.

OnSKy Health raises pre-Series A Round

Having raised over $850K in Pre-Series A from angel investors over the past few months, OnSky is now raising the remaining $1M on the largest crowdfunding platform, WeFunder, which will provide a huge marketing and lobbying arm for its products to expand through its base of investors.

POPs Closed Bridge Round

In preparation for its Series D round, POPs closed a bridge round of

$1.5M to finance its growth. The round closed in September 2022. POPs has already secured a lead investor for its Series D round expected to open in late 2022/early 2023.

Tititada Raising Capital

Tititada is a micro-investments platform that allows you to start your investment journey with as little as 10,000 VND. Easy, smart and safe, the platform is designed to help every Vietnamese achieve financial security and freedom. They have already raised $1.5 million from Golden Gate Ventures in their seed round.

VIETNAM TECH AND
STARTUP ENVIRONMENT

AI Startups and the Hunt for Tech Talent In Vietnam:

https://thegradient.pub/ai-startups-and-the-hunt-for-tech- talent-in-vietnam/
“Vietnam is investing in technological innovations and pursuing techno-developmentalism, a developmental model that prioritizes technological advances, R&D, and industrial upgrading.”

Vietnam Is Becoming an Attractive Startup Valley:

https://vietnamnet.vn/en/vietnam-is-becoming-an- attractive-startup-valley-820613.html
“In 2021, investment capital in start-ups hit a record level of 1.35 billion USD, making Vietnam the most attractive startup valley in the region.”
“Golden Gate Venture said that Vietnam is a “rising star” of Southeast Asia and will become the country with the third largest startup ecosystem in the region by 2022.”

Vietnam Startup Scene Poised For New Heights In 2022:

https://m.hanoitimes.vn/vietnam-startup-scene-poised-for-new-heights-in-2022-320608.html
“Given a solid pipeline of early-stage companies and the positive environment created by the Vietnamese government, Vietnam’s startup ecosystem is poised to enter a more mature stage and reach new heights in 2022.” “Venture capital going into Vietnamese startups reached a record high in 2021 amidst market uncertainties and upheaval caused by Covid-19.”

Vietnam Emerges as Asia’s Growth Leader as China Slows:
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Vietnam-emerges-as- Asia-s-growth-leader-as-China-slows
“Vietnam is predicted to lead the region with annual growth of 7.2%, up from 5.3% in the April forecast.”


Vietnam Looks to Build Next Tech Startup Unicorns In Asia:

https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-looks-to-build-next- tech-startup-unicorns-in-asia-adb/234570.vnp
“Vietnam is creating favorable conditions for the birth of Asia’s next tech start-up unicorns, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) July 2022 report entitled “Vietnam’s Ecosystem for Technology Startups”.”


Vietnam to Serve as a ‘Launchpad’ to the Rest of Asia, Says VC Expert:

https://www.financeasia.com/article/vietnam-to-serve-as- a-launchpad-to-the-rest-of-asia-says-vc-expert/481338
“Vietnam’s start-up ecosystem often draws comparison with that of Indonesia and China some years back, but investors in the market face different opportunities and exit options, say VC experts.”

STRATEGIC ALLIANCE VIETNAMESE VENTURES INTERNATIONAL

venture capital organizations
in vietnam

Antler
Website: antler.co
Contact: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonssonej/
Pre-seed to Seed
Every sector

Ascend Vietnam Ventures
Website: https://ascendvietnam.com/
Contact: contact@ascendvietnam.com
Every sector
Pre-product market fit

Do Ventures
Website: https://doventures.vc/en
Contact: https://doventures.vc/en/contact
Early stage
Every sector

East Bridge Partners
Website: https://www.eastbridge.asia/
Contact: info@eastbridgelp.com
Mid-cap investment
Every sector

Gaw Capital Partners
Website: http://gawcapital.com
Contact: info@gawcapital.com
Real estate sector

Golden Gate Ventures
Website: goldengate.vc
Contact: hello@goldengate.vc
Early stage, series A, B
Tooling, consumer apps, SaaS, logistics, e-commerce

Hustle Fund
Website: https://www.hustlefund.vc/
Contact: https://hustlefund.typeform.com/to/UGTnIt?typeform-source=www.hustlefund.vc
Early stage
Tech

IT-Farm
Website: https://www.it-farm.com/
Contact: https://www.linkedin.com/company/it-farm-ltd/about/
Seed to series A
IT

Jungle Ventures
Website: https://www.jungle.vc/
Contact: contact@jungle.vc
Pre-seed, seed, series A
Technology startups

Monk’s Hill Ventures
Website: monkshill.com
Contact: ir@monkshill.com
Series A
Technology startups

Patamar Capital
Website: https://patamar.com
Contact: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-woolley-b0665/
Technology startups

SoftBank Ventures Asia
Website: softbank.co.kr
Contact: b_plan@softbank.co.kr
Enterprise Software, Mobile

Vietnam Investments Group
Website: https://vigroup.com/en/
Contact: contact@vigroup.com
Early-stage to expansion capital
Multi

VinaCapital Ventures
Website: https://ventures.vinacapital.com
Contact: investment.vc@vinacapital.com
Multi

Wavemaker Partners
Website: https://wavemaker.vc/
Contact: pitchsea@wavemaker.vc
Seed Round
Tech

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

Investment in Vietnamese startups, by industry, 2021


• Finlech • E-commerce • Edtech • Medtech • Saas      Proptach • Food ch • ESG • ¢Xher

Source: Nexlrans

Total capital disbursed to Vietnamese startups (billion USD)

Source: NATEC

Issue 1, October 2022