Vietnamese startup with remarkable funding rounds
Earlier this February, VinaCapital announced an investment of one million USD in the Vietnamese agricultural startup Koina. This startup received investment capital after linking with more than 2 farming households across the country, connecting more than 80 small businesses in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Dong Nai, helping to consume more than 1.000 tons of agricultural products…
Recently, BuyMed – a startup investing in the pharmaceutical distribution e-commerce platform Thuocsi.vn based in Ho Chi Minh City has successfully raised US$33,5 million in capital. According to DealStreetAsia, in which the investment of UOB Venture Management is 28 million USD. The other two investors Smilegate Investment (US$2,5 million) and Cocoon Capital ($3 million). Previously, BuyMed received more than tens of millions of US dollars from the previous round of funding.
Established in 2018, BuyMed connects pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution companies with about 35.000 pharmacies and clinics across 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Through the website thuocsi.vn, shoppers can quickly look up ingredients, uses, prices and order drugs.
Still according to DealStreetAsia, another Vietnamese startup, Gimo, has just raised a total of $4,6 million, led by venture capital firm TNB Aura. Previously, Gimo also received an investment of nearly 2 million USD led by Singapore's Integra Partners fund.
Gimo is an instant salary payment platform for Vietnamese workers. Gimo provides a platform, allowing companies to calculate employees' wages at all times, thereby allowing employees to receive early wages before the regular pay date of the business. The advance amount is calculated based on the actual timekeeping data of the employee in the month, all transactions are transparent and updated in real time.
Speaking at the forum of Vietnam Innovative Startup Investment Fund 2022, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that Vietnam's innovative startup activities are increasingly attracting international investors. From 2020 to 2022, the amount of investment capital in innovative start-ups has reached nearly 2 billion USD.
Investments from funds have comprehensively supported startups in terms of financial support, knowledge, operational capacity, development and commercialization of products, contributing to creating outstanding values for Vietnamese startups. South when reaching out to the international market. This helps the creative startup ecosystem in Vietnam become more and more vibrant, attractive and quality”, said Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung.
According to statistics from the National Center for Support for Innovative Startups (Ministry of Planning and Investment), in 2022 Vietnam is currently ranked 54th in the global startup ecosystem, up 5 places compared to 2021. The whole country There are currently about 3.800 active startups. Vietnamese startups have raised a record $1,4 billion in investment capital across 165 deals in 2021, up 1,6 times from $894 million and 126 deals in 2019. The National Center for Support for Innovative Start-ups forecasts this growth to continue into 2023 with a projected GDP of 6,7%.
A report by KPMG and HSBC said that by mid-2022, the number of startups in Vietnam had nearly doubled compared to the beginning of the Covid-19 epidemic.
BambuUp's report on Vietnam Open Innovation Ecosystem in 2022 shows that the Vietnamese startup ecosystem has attracted strong investment capital since the end of 2019. This is reflected in the number of deals as well as the amount of capital. are poured into domestic and foreign startups by investors and venture capital funds. In 2021, there will be a total of 165 deals and total investment capital up to 1,4 billion USD.
Take action to deserve the name of Southeast Asia's startup ecological triangle
At the Vietnam Innovative Startup Investment Fund Forum 2022 recently held, 39 investment funds have committed to invest 1,5 billion USD in projects, startups and innovation in Vietnam. Vietnam in the next 3 years.
At the above forum, Mr. Vinnie Lauria, Founder and CEO of Golden Gate Ventures said that Singapore and Indonesia were the top growth drivers in the first decade of the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem. By 2022, Vietnam will be the third pillar of this golden triangle. Vietnam has tech talent, the domestic market is growing rapidly…
Mr. Vinnie Lauria said that the strength of the Singapore - Indonesia - Vietnam triangle will make Southeast Asia a magnet to attract global investment flows.
Although Vietnamese startups are attracting a large amount of investment capital, Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment, said that it is necessary to soon form a creative and effective start-up investment environment for investors. Domestic and international investors can pour capital as well as withdraw capital proactively, flexibly and transparently. In particular, focus on building and perfecting institutions, mechanisms and policies to promote the capital market in a manner consistent with the market mechanism and international practices.
In order to promote startup activities, in the coming time, the Ministry of Planning and Investment will do research and report on the possibility of developing a Law on Venture Investment and propose a mechanism to establish a fund to support innovation and promote innovation. from social capital sources, not using the state budget with the goal of quickly and effectively supporting potential innovative start-up projects.
Also at the Vietnam Innovative Startup Investment Fund Forum 2022 event, 39 investment funds have committed to invest 1,5 billion USD in the period of 2023 - 2025.
Recently, the Ministry of Information and Communications organized a seminar to develop Vietnam's digital unicorn to find solutions to remove difficulties for digital businesses in raising capital and developing products and markets. school.
At the event, Ms. Bui Thu Thuy, Deputy Director of the Department of Enterprise Development, Ministry of Planning and Investment shared that over the past time, there have been many support policies for small and medium enterprises, including small and medium enterprises. digital technology industry through the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund.
With the above Fund, Ms. Thuy said that the main object of support is a startup, but so far, it has only loaned more than 233 billion VND. Similarly, for the Credit Guarantee Fund for small and medium-sized enterprises, there are 28 funds in the whole country, but the total number of guarantees for small and medium-sized enterprises has reached nearly VND 200 billion.
However, Ms. Thuy said that the Government has revised Decree 80 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the law on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to empower the support agency. Hopefully, from 2023, it will be removed for the Fund, which is a source of more support for technology startups.
Also at the seminar Developing Vietnam's digital technology unicorn, Ms. Mai Thi Thanh Binh, an expert in the Information Technology Department, Institute of Information and Communication Strategy, said that most Vietnamese digital enterprises Nam is a small and medium-sized enterprise, even a micro-enterprise. Most of them are in the start-up stage, the products and services they provide are not mature enough to develop and dominate the market of 100 million people.
Talking about the 6 main capital mobilization channels of digital technology enterprises, Ms. Binh said, including grants, government subsidies, equity, capital raised from stocks, credit capital, and mobilized capital. from bonds and capital from investment funds and investors. But businesses face many difficulties in accessing these channels because of high credit risk, intangible collateral and uncertainty about the future.
Analyzing the financial mechanism to promote the potential of investment capital mobilization channels for digital technology enterprises, Ms. Binh said, including: crowdfunding and venture capital funds to support businesses; Mechanism for testing new products and business models to support startups.
According to a 2022 study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Vietnam needs a number of policy reforms to create an environment that stimulates the establishment of innovative businesses, promotes the growth of technology startups and improve access to finance.
Vu Tung
