North Base Media leads Vietcetera’s $2.7 million pre-series A round

North Base Media leads Vietnam digital network Vietcetera’s $2.7m pre-series A round

Other investors included Indonesian firm Go-Ventures, the corporate venture arm of ride-hailing technology company Gojek; East Ventures, one of Indonesia’s leading venture firms; Summit Media from the Philippines; and Tokyo-based duo Genesia Ventures and Z Venture Capital Corporation (ZVC). ZVC is the corporate venture capital arm of Japan’s Z Holdings Corporation, controlled by SoftBank Group and Naver Corporation. Additionally, the round saw participation from Singaporean and Vietnamese family offices.

Founded in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2016 by Hao Tran and Guy Truong, the Vietnamese media company has experienced rapid audience and revenue growth as Vietnamese media consumers look for high-quality multimedia content.

“North Base Media seeks out high-quality, well-run media companies serving new audiences in markets where demand for content is rising as more and more people get smartphones and access to mobile data,” North Base Media co-founder and managing partner Saša Vučinič said. “Vietcetera understands its market and has enormous growth potential.”

Melisa Irene, partner at Jakarta-based East Ventures, went on to share, “The Vietcetera team has demonstrated strong execution capability by obtaining a strong readership base from Vietnam and Southeast Asia’s emerging population. We believe Vietcetera will continue to innovate and adapt to deliver better quality content for its readers.”

"Vietcetera now reaches an audience of more than twenty million users per month, mostly from Vietnam. We are delighted to welcome such a strong group of investors as the backers of Vietcetera. They are a perfect complement to the global standard we aim to set in our products,” CEO of Vietcetera Hao Tran said.

Vietcetera plans to use its new funding to strengthen its content, adding new shows and podcasts targeting the country’s emerging middle class with topics that are underserved. Mobile application development, business intelligence investments, franchise and content licensing, and acquisition deals also are a high priority for 2022, she added.