Vietnam not just gunning for new venture deals at Techfest 2020
01/12/2020
Vietnam not just gunning for new venture deals at Techfest 2020Although the pandemic has caused a slowdown in venture capital financing activities in Vietnam’s startups, investors in the U.S. could set high expectations for Techfest Vietnam event this year to see “the real reason why they need to come to Vietnam.”As the result of the disruption in global supply chains caused by the COVID-19 crisis and the U.S.-China trade tension, “investors are moving away from China to other places,” said Xu Qinduo, China Radio International’s former chief correspondent in Washington. He underlined that Vietnam was one of the few countries that could benefit from this process.
Indeed, in the first half of 2020, Vietnam’s exports to the U.S. raised significantly to the second place worldwide, as per the Global Imports Report by Jungle Scout.
Mr. Ee Fai Kam, Head of Asia Research & Operations at a global investment research firm Preqin, suggested that Vietnam’s startups could take this opportunity to narrow the gap with its regional peers like Singapore and Indonesia in terms of attracting global investors.
Along with the annual GDP growth rate of above 5% over the last two decades, the country’s economy made an impressive revival after the COVID-19 crisis thanks to its effective handling of the pandemic, according to the World Bank.
“Vietnam has shown all the positive economic indicators, that’s why big investors are flocking into this country,” said Bobby Liu, one of the procreators of Techfest Vietnam, co-director of the regional startup launch program TFI Founder Institute.
In fact, Vietnam has gained the spotlight of a prominent destination for international investors since 2018.
During the first Techfest International held at San Francisco, CA last September, Mr. Tri Hoang, a Vietnamese-American entrepreneur, CEO of the Silicon Valley-based AI20x accelerator said that “there is a strong development of frontier technology in the U.S., and Vietnam’s huge amount of human resources in Information Technology would be a big gold mine.”
The number of foreign investors entering Vietnam also spiked to a record figure in 2019, following by nearly the same number this year. In 2019, the country received $861 million in 123 venture deals, surpassing Singapore to rank second in Southeast Asia, according to data compiled by Cento Ventures in a recent report.
The U.S.-headquartered venture capital (VC) firm 500 Startups constantly contributed to this amount of investment. The VC informed VIR last August that they aimed to invest in 80 Vietnamese startups cumulatively by early 2021.
“The ecosystem is experiencing a rapid and exciting stage of growth,” said Mr. Eddie Thai, Partner at 500 Startups, acknowledging that the country’s business-friendly government has been developing a range of policy and legal improvements to attract foreign investors.
In light of this particular support from the government, the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam will host the annual national startup festival-Techfest Vietnam 2020 in a hybrid format, from November 27 to 29 in Hanoi (UTC/GMT+7).
The representative of the Ministry said that Techfest would not only cater for deal-makers, but also focus to the origin of the startup ecosystem which presented Vietnam as a potential domestic market.
“International investors have already been attracted to Vietnam,” Liu added, “now we need to show them the real reason why they need to come to Vietnam”.
He explained that venture making was not a priority in this period of market uncertainty, while “adaptation” and “transformation” would be the key theme for any future “breakthrough” after things return to normal.
A report from DO Ventures recently pointed out that the COVID-19 outbreak has “partly favored the key foundations of the local Internet economy and catalyzed digital transformation.”
In 2018, there were about 54.7 million internet users in Vietnam. On average, Vietnamese spent about 7 hours per day on the internet. Therefore, the digital economy’s building blocks such as retail and payments are set to be hot spots for hawk-eyed investors this year at Techfest.
The gaming and media businesses, which are considered the first wave of successful startups in Vietnam, including listed companies like Yeah1 and the “unicorn” VNG, will be given the stage to deliver a new picture of this industry in the region at Techfest.
Impact startups and lifestyle startups are also rising stars as investors seeing them suitable with the local culture and history.
“It is a good trend that more and more accelerators and investors are realizing the thrive of lifestyle startups in Vietnam,” said Ms. Janice Y. Lederman, director of Valhalla Private Capital based in Canada, who attended Techfest two years ago. “Those businesses are not on a Silicon Valley growth trajectory,” she added, “but you are still looking for a really healthy return”, which would also demand a favorable angel investor network to help them grow faster.
Apart from a signature high-level policy dialogue, investors could expect to see the startup community’s hype at Techfest via virtual booth exhibition, online pitching stages, webinars, and one on one investment matching sessions.
Over the last five years, the event attracted about 30,000 participants, with international guests accounting for well over 40% of total investors and experts. Last year, nearly 500 startups attended Techfest, with an aggregate investment expected value of up to $14 million during the event.
Although the pandemic has caused a slowdown in venture capital financing activities in Vietnam’s startups, investors in the U.S. could set high expectations for Techfest Vietnam event this year to see “the real reason why they need to come to Vietnam.”
As the result of the disruption in global supply chains caused by the COVID-19 crisis and the U.S.-China trade tension, “investors are moving away from China to other places,” said Xu Qinduo, China Radio International’s former chief correspondent in Washington. He underlined that Vietnam was one of the few countries that could benefit from this process.
Indeed, in the first half of 2020, Vietnam’s exports to the U.S. raised significantly to the second place worldwide, as per the Global Imports Report by Jungle Scout.
Mr. Ee Fai Kam, Head of Asia Research & Operations at a global investment research firm Preqin, suggested that Vietnam’s startups could take this opportunity to narrow the gap with its regional peers like Singapore and Indonesia in terms of attracting global investors.
Along with the annual GDP growth rate of above 5% over the last two decades, the country’s economy made an impressive revival after the COVID-19 crisis thanks to its effective handling of the pandemic, according to the World Bank.
“Vietnam has shown all the positive economic indicators, that’s why big investors are flocking into this country,” said Bobby Liu, one of the procreators of Techfest Vietnam, co-director of the regional startup launch program TFI Founder Institute.
In fact, Vietnam has gained the spotlight of a prominent destination for international investors since 2018.
During the first Techfest International held at San Francisco, CA last September, Mr. Tri Hoang, a Vietnamese-American entrepreneur, CEO of the Silicon Valley-based AI20x accelerator said that “there is a strong development of frontier technology in the U.S., and Vietnam’s huge amount of human resources in Information Technology would be a big gold mine.”
The number of foreign investors entering Vietnam also spiked to a record figure in 2019, following by nearly the same number this year. In 2019, the country received $861 million in 123 venture deals, surpassing Singapore to rank second in Southeast Asia, according to data compiled by Cento Ventures in a recent report.
The U.S.-headquartered venture capital (VC) firm 500 Startups constantly contributed to this amount of investment. The VC informed VIR last August that they aimed to invest in 80 Vietnamese startups cumulatively by early 2021.
“The ecosystem is experiencing a rapid and exciting stage of growth,” said Mr. Eddie Thai, Partner at 500 Startups, acknowledging that the country’s business-friendly government has been developing a range of policy and legal improvements to attract foreign investors.
In light of this particular support from the government, the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam will host the annual national startup festival-Techfest Vietnam 2020 in a hybrid format, from November 27 to 29 in Hanoi (UTC/GMT+7).
The representative of the Ministry said that Techfest would not only cater for deal-makers, but also focus to the origin of the startup ecosystem which presented Vietnam as a potential domestic market.
“International investors have already been attracted to Vietnam,” Liu added, “now we need to show them the real reason why they need to come to Vietnam”.
He explained that venture making was not a priority in this period of market uncertainty, while “adaptation” and “transformation” would be the key theme for any future “breakthrough” after things return to normal.
A report from DO Ventures recently pointed out that the COVID-19 outbreak has “partly favored the key foundations of the local Internet economy and catalyzed digital transformation.”
In 2018, there were about 54.7 million internet users in Vietnam. On average, Vietnamese spent about 7 hours per day on the internet. Therefore, the digital economy’s building blocks such as retail and payments are set to be hot spots for hawk-eyed investors this year at Techfest.
The gaming and media businesses, which are considered the first wave of successful startups in Vietnam, including listed companies like Yeah1 and the “unicorn” VNG, will be given the stage to deliver a new picture of this industry in the region at Techfest.
Impact startups and lifestyle startups are also rising stars as investors seeing them suitable with the local culture and history.
“It is a good trend that more and more accelerators and investors are realizing the thrive of lifestyle startups in Vietnam,” said Ms. Janice Y. Lederman, director of Valhalla Private Capital based in Canada, who attended Techfest two years ago. “Those businesses are not on a Silicon Valley growth trajectory,” she added, “but you are still looking for a really healthy return”, which would also demand a favorable angel investor network to help them grow faster.
Apart from a signature high-level policy dialogue, investors could expect to see the startup community’s hype at Techfest via virtual booth exhibition, online pitching stages, webinars, and one on one investment matching sessions.
Over the last five years, the event attracted about 30,000 participants, with international guests accounting for well over 40% of total investors and experts. Last year, nearly 500 startups attended Techfest, with an aggregate investment expected value of up to $14 million during the event.