Shark Tank Vietnam will return for a third season in July. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Shark Tank Việt Nam will be back for the third season with two new investors, organisers announced in HCM City on Thursday.

At the launch the organisers, VTV24 News Centre and TVHub, said the reality show for start-up investors will be shown every Wednesday on VTV3 starting on July 24.

The two new "sharks” this year are Đỗ Liên, the founder of insurance application LIAN, and Phạm Văn Tam, chairman of Asanzo Group.

The other judges will be Nguyễn Thanh Việt, chairman of Phương Đông General Hospital; Nguyễn Mạnh Dũng, director of CyberAgent;  Phạm Thanh Hưng, chairman of CenInvest, Nguyễn Ngọc Thuỷ, chairman of Egroup; and Thái Vân Linh, general director of Vingroup Ventures.

Liên said: “Việt Nam has a young generation who are full of energy, strength and knowledge. I have strong belief in them and want to support them.

I want to share my practical experience with start-ups so that we can create a new value for them and society.”

He has set up a start-up fund called Asanzo Fund which would bring VNĐ200 billion (US$8.8 million) to the show, he said.

“I have experienced losses for four or five times. I want to support start-ups so that they can avoid the mistakes I made. I hope with my support start-ups can shorten their road to the success.”

At the launch of the third season, organisers unveiled a project called “Shark Tank-The Purpose” for crowd funding to give disadvantaged students a chance to learn information technology.

It targets donating 1,000 computers to schools in remote areas.

Shark Tank, developed by Sony Pictures, has two versions -- Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den.

Since starting in Japan in 2001, the programme has been adopted in many nations and territories.

In the US, the programme receives an average of 250,000 registrations every season, with 48 per cent of them succeeding in raising funds from investors.

In Việt Nam, the show began when the start-up scene was developing rapidly and has had two successful seasons.
Last year 1,000 start-ups registered, 42 were selected and 27 received investments worth VNĐ206.5 billion ($9 million) as against VNĐ116.6 billion ($5.1 million) in the first season. — VNS