Vietnam’s Techfest 2018 expected to draw more investment in startups

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Vietnam is thirsty for funds for its potential startups and the upcoming Techfest 2018 will be a good chance to draw both domestic and overseas capital. 

Techfest 2018, held in Danang from November 29 to December 1, welcomed 5,500 arrivals, 250 local and international investors, investment funds, and lecturers, as well as 250 booths.  The event marked the attendance of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and broadcast live on the national TV channels.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc addresses Techfest 2018.

Techfest 2018 provided recommendations on policy making that facilitate startups, and connections between startups and investment funds.  Launched in 2015, Techfest shows Vietnam’s ambition of developing newly-established potential businesses in the context of fast growing pace in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4.0) era.  Thanks to policies favoring startups, the number of venture capital funds amounted to more than 40 in 2017, doubling that in 2015.  In 2018, a number of corporations setting up funds to invest in startups included VinaCapital with VinaCapital Ventures worth US$100 million, Vingroup with a fund worth VND2 trillion (US$87 million), and a US$300-million venture capital fund.  In the same year, many startups have successfully called for capital, including online cuisine service platform Foody with US$64 million, e-commerce platform Tiki.vn with US$44 million from South Korea and China, and another e-commerce platform Sendo.vn with US$51 million from Asian investors.  The winner of Techfest 2018 is Abivin, an all in one logistics optimization platform, which is allowed to attend a training course in Silicon Valley and Startup World Cup contest in the US with the possibility of winning a prize worth US$1 million.  This year event, which embraced Innovative Technotrepreneur Contest (ITC), welcomed representatives from Venture Capital, VinaCapital, Scientist of Nexus Frontier Tech, JN Capital & Growth Advisory, and Cengroup.  Investors pledged to pour an amount of US$7.8 million into startups in Techfest 2018, compared to US$4.5 million in 2017 and US$3 million in 2016.

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