Vingroup’s new venture arm to invest US$50 million in tech startups in Vietnam, South-east Asia
VinVentures focuses on companies in sectors including artificial intelligence, semiconductors and cloud computing
[HANOI] Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup has launched a US$150 million fund to invest in technology startups in Vietnam, with the aim of eventually extending its reach to companies in regional markets including Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The fund, named VinVentures, is set to disburse US$50 million in the next three to five years, focusing on investments in early-stage companies in sectors including artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and cloud computing.
The other US$100 million is the value of assets that VinVentures inherited from Vingroup’s previous investments, the group said.
VinVentures’ portfolio now includes seven startups as presented on the fund’s official website. Six of them are providers of solutions in the e-mobility field.
The move shows a renewed momentum of Vingroup’s interest in emerging technology startups, after a period of heightened focus on the electric vehicle (EV) sector with its carmaker VinFast.
“Investing in technology startups has consistently been a strategic priority for Vingroup as it transitions into Vietnam’s leading technology conglomerate,” it said.
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So far, Vingroup’s biggest tech unit VinFast has attained a certain success on its home turf with its leading monthly EV deliveries of over 9,300 units in September, outperforming other well-established competitors in the local market.
However, the Nasdaq-listed EV maker is still in the red, with bigger losses reported for the second quarter due to rising overseas costs to boost sales.
Earlier this month, The Business Times reported that Vingroup had been in talks to sell its stakes in its two AI-focused flagship companies, VinBrain and VinAI, in which it held 49.74 per cent and 65 per cent of equity interest, respectively, as at June this year.
Startup engagements
VinVentures shares a similar profile to its sister funds, Vingroup Ventures and VinTech Fund, which were established in 2018, but have seen muted investment activities since 2020.
Vingroup Ventures was a US$100 million fund with ticket sizes of US$5 million to US$10 million, but soon disbanded in early 2020 without an announced deal.
The other tech-focused arm, called VinTech, aims to provide support to early-stage projects in science and technology, and create a “Silicon Valley of Vietnam” by 2022. However, VinTech Fund last announced a grant of 86 billion dong (S$4.5 million), which it poured into 12 applied science projects and startups, more than five years ago.
The new venture affords the conglomerate “clearly defined profit expectations” from its equity investments, with the potential of leveraging its ecosystem as a platform for startups to evaluate and test their products and services before entering the market, said the group.
“VinVentures will strategically optimise opportunities for the realisation and introduction of innovative technology ideas into the Vietnamese and regional markets, while broadening the conglomerate’s revenue streams at the same time,” it noted.
The original leaders of Vingroup Ventures, VinTech City and VinVentures are female Vietnamese investors who used to be featured as “sharks” on the localised version of the popular US business-themed television show Shark Tank in the South-east Asian country.
Le Han Tue Lam, who is now serving as the managing director of VinVentures, faced backlash last year due to unverified rumours regarding her professional background, prompting her to take a break from social media since end-2023.
Prior to taking on the new role, she had nearly five years working as partner and managing partner at the Vietnam branch of Nextrans, a Korean venture capital firm which has invested in 32 Vietnamese tech startups, including well-known local firms such as Tiki, TopCV, BuyMed and Base.vn, according to the firm’s website.
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