Vietnamese electric vehicle startup that was once "criticized" received an additional 22 million USD from foreign funds

(Dan Tri) - The investment of funds into Dat Bike takes place in the context of Vietnam's electric motorbike industry being transformed.

On September 18, Dat Bike, an electric motorbike startup in Vietnam, announced that it had successfully raised 22 million USD in Series B funding, bringing its total capital to 47 million USD.

The funding round was co-led by FCC, a company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and Rebright Partners, a fund based in Japan and Singapore, with continued participation from Jungle Ventures, one of Southeast Asia's leading venture capital funds and a long-time investor in Dat Bike.

This funding round also welcomed new investors including Cathay Venture - a venture capital subsidiary of Cathay Financial Group and AiViet Venture.

The investment by funds into Dat Bike comes as Vietnam’s electric motorbike industry is undergoing a transformation, thanks to the Government’s strong support for green transport trends and global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. For example, the Government has issued a plan to ban all fossil-fuel-powered motorbikes in the Hanoi Ring Road 1 area starting from July 2026.

With the new capital of 22 million USD, Dat Bike will expand production capacity, expand distribution system and lead the transition to electric motorbikes in Vietnam.

Dat Bike has been a name that has attracted the attention of Vietnamese investors in recent years. In the 2019 episode of Shark Tank Vietnam, Nguyen Ba Canh Son – a software engineer who used to work in Silicon Valley – appeared on Shark Tank Vietnam to call for $50,000 for 0.5% of the shares of the electric motorbike company Dat Bike.

CEO Dat Bike Nguyen Ba Canh Son (Photo: Dat Bike).

Despite being considered a "talent", Son was still rejected by investors, even receiving harsh comments that his product "had no chance", could not compete on price with gasoline cars, and could not convince the market.

"I feel like you're making a startup mistake of making a social product that isn't necessarily needed, or it's okay to have it, or it's okay not to have it," Shark Binh commented on Dat Bike's fundraising on the Shark Tank show.

Despite being rejected, this unit still nurtured the idea of ​​starting a business to develop high-performance electric motorbikes, instead of focusing on low-cost electric motorbikes in the context of gasoline motorbikes accounting for 99% of the two-wheel market share in Vietnam.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/startup-xe-dien-viet-tung-bi-che-duoc-quy-ngoai-rot-them-22-trieu-usd-20250918154005878.htm