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| Fintech topped the list of start-up investment sectors in 2018 with eight deals worth US$117 million. — Photo vir.com.vn |
Viet Nam News
HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese start-ups were invested in to the tune of US$900 million in 2018, tripling the previous year’s investment, according to a report recently released by Topica Founder Institute (TFI), a start-up accelerator programme in Việt Nam and Thailand.
VNG Corporation became Việt Nam’s first ever unicorn tech start-up and was valued at $1 billion by the World Startup Report in 2014, a figure expected to rise in the 2018 report.
Meanwhile, Yeah1 became the first media company in Việt Nam to be listed in the stock market with a valuation of $500 million. Its ambition is to become the first unicorn start-up in the communications industry in Southeast Asia within the next three years.
Director of TFI Mai Duy Quang described 2018 as a successful year for Vietnamese start-ups.
The five most profitable fields for start-ups were financial tech (Fintech), electronic commerce (E-commerce), technology services related to tourism (TravelTech), logistics and education tech (Edtech), he said.
Fintech topped the list with eight deals worth $117 million, followed by E-commerce with five deals worth $104 million and TravelTech with eight deals worth $64 million.
Logistics and Edtech attracted three and four deals, respectively, worth a combined $50 million.
Domestic funds, including Vingroup Ventures, Viet Capital Ventures and Viet Partners, also made big investment in start-ups, Quang said.
In early 2019, TFI and Singapore-based Insignia Venture Partners signed an investment co-operation agreement, under which Insignia will invest at least $50,000 in each start-up that graduates from TFI.
This is the first collaboration of its kind in Việt Nam, according to TFI. — VNS
