MoSC sets up alliance for venture investment funds

The seminar titled "Luring in venture capital for startups" on October 23

This was shared at the seminar on October 23 titled “Luring in venture capitals for startups” as part of startup events for TECHFEST 2020.

Capital mobilisation is an inevitable factor for the development of startups in Vietnam and over the years, local and overseas funds have constantly invested in startups, contributing to this thriving ecosystem. In 2019, Vietnam saw nearly $800 million investment poured into the field, only a little less than in 2018, when it was nearly $900 million.

However, in a regional comparison, these inflows are modest. According to Tech in Asia, total investment in startups in Indonesia ($1.7 billion) was as much as 28 times higher in 2017 than in Vietnam.

As such, long deal-making times have contributed a great deal to this. Hoang Thi Kim Dung, a representative of Japan-based Genesia Venture, said that failing to reach a common stance among local and foreign investors, as well as angel investors, have delayed capital disbursements for startups, extending the timeline for a deal to at least 18 months, including 12 months for capital mobilisation and six months for an investment decision.

“Therefore, it is necessary to have the alliance to materialise the deals quickly,” said Dung.The collaboration will facilitate discussions between startups and investors.

“The most important thing is to prepare for the presentation of their (startup) performance and potential. Failing to match the KPIs as committed is the biggest mistake of startups in general,” said Nguyen Xuan Dong, co-founder of Ecomobi.

Also at the seminar, Bui Thanh Do, director and co-founder of Thinkzone Ventures said that he is in the progress of mobilising investment funds and law companies to participate in the alliance aiming to narrow the distance between policymakers and startups then step-by-step improving the investment climate. At the same time, the alliance is also a place for discussing and sharing experiences between startups, boosting information exchange in the startup community.

“The alliance will partner up with Project 844 to jointly accelerate the evolution of the Vietnamese startup ecosystem,” said Do.