What does Shark Binh do?

(Dan Tri) - With a series of startup investment deals, in his latest share, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh unexpectedly said that he actually invests more in stocks than in startups.

At a press conference to inform about the situation and results of police work in the third quarter on the afternoon of October 6, a representative of Hanoi City Police informed about suspicions surrounding businessman Nguyen Hoa Binh (44 years old, often called Shark Binh).

According to Colonel Nguyen Duc Long, Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police, recently, many individuals and press agencies have reported information related to shark Binh's AntEx virtual currency project.

The investigation agency has reviewed and directed professional units to verify and grasp the situation. Thereby, the Criminal Police Department, the Economic Police Department ... have entered the investigation. Initially, the investigation agency received a report from an individual, with the amount of money embezzled being about 2,000 USD.

AntEx scandal stirs up social networks

Reviewing the AntEx deal that has stirred up social media recently, originating from a sharing at the Go Global 2025 conference organized by the 2030 Entrepreneurs Club in Ho Chi Minh City, shark Nguyen Hoa Binh warned about the risks of investing in startups that raise capital through coin issuance. He said that 99% of these projects fail, causing investors to lose money.

He advised businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), not to focus on fintech, blockchain and coin fields.

In recent articles, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh also always asserted that he was the victim, saying that the "rug pulling" was done by the technical team, and that he had nothing to do with it.

However, the recipient, the CTO (technical director) of the AntEx project, counter-accused, saying that Mr. Binh was the one who directed the "token dumping" right after the project peaked to take advantage of liquidity. This account also publicly disclosed wallet addresses believed to be related to Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, calling on the community to retrieve transaction history.

In 2021, Shark Binh invested 2.5 million USD in the AntEx project (ANTEX token) through the Next100Blockchain fund. He also serves as a strategic advisor for this project.

AntEx was introduced as a DeFi ecosystem, with plans to build a "stablecoin" VNDT (a type of cryptocurrency). However, the ANTEX token has lost 99% of its value, and the project's website and social media pages are no longer active. Mr. Binh has stopped mentioning the project since the end of 2021.

Also in 2021, NextTech Group and Next100 Blockchain Fund (USD 50 million) signed a cooperation agreement with V2B Labs Joint Stock Company (V2B). V2B will be an incubator for blockchain technology startups, while NextTech and the fund will support investment and strategic consulting.

Entrepreneurial journey

Before the recent scandal, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh was known as a businessman who participated in 5 seasons of Shark Tank Vietnam from season 3 (2019) to season 7 (2024). At the program, he shared many experiences about starting a business.

Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh was born in 1981 in Hanoi. In 2001, at the age of 19, he founded PeaceSoft, a software company that later developed into the NextTech ecosystem, operating in the fields of fintech, e-commerce and logistics.

Initially, PeaceSoft focused on developing software for agencies and businesses, then shifted to e-commerce when realizing the great potential of the Internet. With the successful capital mobilization from IDG Ventures, PeaceSoft expanded its operations and developed Chodientu.com - one of the pioneering e-commerce platforms in Vietnam.

However, facing fierce competition from foreign rivals such as Lazada or Shopee, eBay withdrew from the market and Cho Dien Tu gradually lost its position.

In 2003, he entered the Vietnamese technology industry when the IDG Venture Capital Fund invested in PeaceSoft. After that, PeaceSoft Group built an ecosystem of e-commerce-related services including Vietnam's first e-commerce platform chodientu.vn, e-wallet NganLuong.vn, eBay.vn, shipping ShipChung.vn, linking with logistics and warehouse BoxMe.vn...

In 2013, PeaceSoft restructured and changed its name to NextTech.

Among the 20 projects launched by NextTech, some projects closed and "disappeared" from the market such as ShipChung.vn, WeShop, chodientu.vn... (Photo: DT).

In 2014, NextTech transformed from E-Commercer (electronic commerce) to D-Commerce (electronic commerce). NextTech successively launched new products such as mPoS mobile payment solution, WeShop for purchasing on eBay-Amazon, Vimo, P2P Lending platform Vaymuon...; at the same time, expanded to markets in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, China, and the US.

NextTech also participates in a series of new markets, in the technology car segment there is the FastGo project, or before the heat of the crypto asset segment, Mr. Binh has invested in a number of projects such as AntEx - VNDT, EnrEx, NFT Dragon Land...

Many of NextTech's 20 launched projects closed and "disappeared" from the market such as ShipChung.vn, WeShop, chodientu.vn...

Besides NextTech, Mr. Binh also founded many companies that have now ceased operations such as Taxially Vietnam, Weship Vietnam, Shippchung Vietnam, Hoa Binh Technology Solutions, O2O Vietnam, Vietnam Financial Technology Services, 12Trip...

In 2019, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh first appeared on the "hot" seat of the program Shark Tank Vietnam season 3, from here he was widely known to the national audience with the nickname Shark Binh.

As of season 7 (2024), Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh is the "shark" who has been with the show the longest. Some of his typical deals include 1.2 million USD for startup Perfect (season 1), 500,000 USD for Coolmate (season 2), 10 billion VND for engineer Nguyen Vinh Son (season 3), 500,000 USD for Banh Mi Xin Chao (season 4) and 8 billion VND for Nada Oils (season 5).

The most successful deal was Coolmate. In his sharing on The Investors season 2, Mr. Binh "boasted" that after many rounds of capital calls, Coolmate's valuation had reached 2,000 billion VND, bringing in dozens of times more profit to his investment portfolio.

Shark Nguyen Hoa Binh invested 500,000 USD in Coolmate at Shark Tank season 2 (Photo: SharkTank).

In another development, his name was also in the news when, in his first season in the hot seat, he once "criticized" Dat Bike. He said that Dat Bike's electric motorbike business model "has no chance and society may not need it" but in fact, this brand is still developing, calling for capital...

With a series of startup investment deals, in his latest share, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh unexpectedly said that he actually invests more in stocks than in startups.

He once shared that he only invested in small amounts when he found a good startup. In the meantime, idle capital must be invested in more legitimate and safer channels. Therefore, in terms of the amount of money, he invested in other investment channels will be higher than startups, sometimes using the profits from these quick investment channels to get money to reinvest in startups.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/shark-binh-lam-gi-20251006170436184.htm