BLOCK71 launches UniVentures, powering Vietnam’s next generation of university founders

The initiative is supported by the National Innovation Centre (NIC), the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Golden Gate Ventures, Singapore Global Network, Google Cloud, IBM, and Reactor School.

UniVentures was created to bring together the strengths of Singapore’s and Vietnam’s innovation systems – connecting founders from Vietnam’s universities with mentorship, market access, and investment networks across the region. The programme is built around the vision of “University to Unicorn”, aiming to nurture top, future-looking startups founded by students, alumni, and researchers.

Originally designed to support 1,000 of Vietnam’s top university founders, the programme has already attracted nearly 1,500 applications from across Vietnam, signalling strong entrepreneurial ambition and confidence in Vietnam’s innovation landscape.

“We don’t just want to run a programme, we want to change the trajectory of these 1,500 young Vietnamese founders,” said Edward Lim, Vietnam country manager at BLOCK71 – NUS Enterprise. “UniVentures is our way of betting on Vietnamese founders and turning ambition into access. By unlocking opportunities for Vietnam’s young founders and connecting them to the wider Singapore innovation ecosystem, we’re building not just startups – we’re building future-ready talent and lasting bridges between Singapore and Vietnam.”

The programme is part of BLOCK71’s continued efforts in Vietnam and its broader Southeast Asia strategy to build connected innovation ecosystems across the region. It includes expert-led masterclasses, investor-readiness training, pitch clinics, and mentorship from founders and venture capitalists across ASEAN, culminating in a demo day to showcase top-performing teams.

In a major show of confidence in Vietnam’s innovation ecosystem, Golden Gate Ventures has partnered with UniVentures to create the GGV UniVentures Prize, a $250,000 prize pool to support up to 10 top-performing startups from the programme. The GGV UniVentures Prize will offer selected teams a launchpad to pursue follow-on investment and international scale.

“At Golden Gate Ventures, we don’t just invest in companies, we build the scaffolding of startup ecosystems. After 15 years of backing Southeast Asia’s most iconic startups, we’ve learned that the next unicorn doesn’t come from capital alone; it comes from community, mentorship, and belief. That’s why we are leveraging the human, social and financial capital we have amassed over the years behind this programme, and putting up a $250,000 prize as a catalyst. It’s our way of accelerating Vietnam’s next wave of founders and supporting the entrepreneurial ties between Singapore and Vietnam,” said Vinnie Lauria, founding partner at Golden Gate Ventures.

Vu Quoc Huy, director of NIC also added, “NIC has supported UniVentures from the very beginning, with a vision to create a national incubation programme that elevates startups and innovative ideas spun off from universities in Vietnam to their full potential. More than just a startup programme, UniVentures serves as a platform for transformation – bringing together the public and private sectors to accelerate innovation for the next generation to thrive in global markets.”

This initiative builds on the deepening strategic partnership between Singapore and Vietnam, which was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in March 2025. Innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship are central pillars of this enhanced relationship.

During Party General Secretary To Lam’s official visit to Singapore and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s reciprocal visit to Hanoi in March, both countries signed a series of forward-looking agreements in areas such as digital transformation, green energy cooperation, and innovation. A key example of this growing collaboration is the MoU signed in 2023 between NUS Enterprise and Vietnam’s NIC to create new cross-border opportunities for entrepreneurs.

UniVentures emerges as a flagship initiative to translate this high-level ambition into tangible outcomes for a new generation of founders. It further strengthens bilateral innovation flows and provides a scalable model for how two fast-growing economies can co-create entrepreneurial ecosystems. The programme kicked off with a series of engagements with top universities across Vietnam, including Hanoi University of Industry, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, and VinUniversity, ensuring a strong first cohort of budding entrepreneurs.

Startups are selected based on innovation potential, team capability, and market applicability. The most promising startups will also benefit from incubation at BLOCK71 Vietnam and Singapore, networking with investors and industry mentors, and investments from venture capital funds such as Golden Gate Ventures.

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