Firm launches $10 million fund to support start-ups

NextTech announced the completion of investments in three startups at the launching ceremony of Next10. — VNS Photo

NextTech Group on Wednesday launched a US$10-million early-stage-focused fund called Next100.

The fund, a hybrid model with a combination of venture builder, ecosystem and venture capital, will participate in seed rounds of start-ups with an investment of $100,000 to $1 million. It aims to boost the country’s start-ups’ ability to be successful and invest in technology entrepreneurs in the region.

The fund’s capital scale will be expanded in the future by the group and its partners.

It plans to coach start-up founders to raise larger rounds of capital from other local and international investors, resolving the biggest difficulties in terms of strategy, ecosystem and capital. Start-ups can also take advantage of NextTech’s ecosystem of nearly 20 products and services and 10 million customers.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Nguyen Hoa Binh, founder of Next100 said NextTech expected to bring its resources and experiences to help the start-up ecosystem in Viet Nam compete in the region.

Dao Minh Phu, Next100’s managing partner, said the fund will focus on technology start-ups that are digitising traditional industries, or traditional start-ups that are leveraging technology to increase efficiency and productivity in their sectors.

“Their common goal must to disrupt or optimise traditional practices to deliver new added value for society,” he said.

Next100 also announced the completion of investments in VayMuon.vn (a Vietnamese P2P lending platform), Inso.vn (a Vietnamese tech-enabled online-only insurance purchasing and claiming platform) and Teky.edu.vn (a technology-backed academy for kids).

Established in 2001, apart from Viet Nam, NextTech now operates in nine markets across Southeast Asia and China within four major sectors including e-commerce, fintech, e-logistics and education with 15 portfolio companies. The company has nearly 2,000 staff and is currently processing annual transaction volume of close to $3 billion. — VNS