Recently, startup company JupViec.vn has successfully attracted capital from STI Holdings, which has regular investment amounts in other popular domestic startups. Using this million-dollar capital, JupViec.vn is going to further implement advanced technologies in hiring, training, and managing its capable housekeeper employees.
Another typical case is Waves, a startup sited in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). It has just received US$1.2 million investment in the seed round held by Insignia Ventures Partners (Singapore). In February, Waves formally launched its mobile application on both iOS and Android operation system.
The most noticeable story is the English language learning application Elsa Speak, launched in 2015. It was able to attract $7 million from many investors including Gradient Ventures – Google’s fund for AI – in the Series A round in February 2019. Until now, it has gained $12 million capital from others.
Grab company has lately launched the program Grab Ventures Ignite for domestic early-stage startups in the fields of mobile technology, food processing, electronic payment, financial services, e-commerce, and AI. With the total prizes of more than $1 million, this is quite exciting news.
In HCMC, Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB) is one very active organization to aid startup businesses attract capital. It has been successful with nearly 30 cases in the form of cooperative incubation with international partners.
Reports from the recent conference ‘Joining Forces for Vietnamese Startups to Enter International Markets’ revealed that the total capital invested in Vietnamese startups reached over $800 million in 2019.
Importantly, as the quality of domestic startup businesses has increased immensely, the success rate of capital attraction in Vietnam Silicon Valley has correspondingly risen to 36 percent to 40 percent, which is impressively high in the region. Particularly, the number of investors in Vietnamese startups also grew by 1.5 times in 2019 compared to 2018.
Regarding activities to improve the investment environment, the Prime Minister has already asked related ministries and state agencies to check all procedures in order to smooth the way for easy investment, to facilitate the project ‘Supporting the National Innovative Startup Ecosystem until 2025’, and to perfect the state management mechanism for innovative startup activities.
