Binh Tran (on the left) and Eddie Thai found the Ascend Vietnam Ventures to invest in the early stage of local start-ups. — Photo courtesy of the firm

After deploying the first Vietnam-focused seed fund of 500 Startups Vietnam, general partners of the fund founded a new venture to invest in local companies.

The Ascend Vietnam Ventures, founded by Binh Tran and Eddie Thai, plan to spend between US$500,000 and $2 million in the early-stage of investments in 25 tech start-ups in the field of finance, education, healthcare, productivity, and future of work.

Binh Tran said: “A third of those companies will receive further investment from us of up to $4 million each.”

The two partners are responsible for the 500 Startups Vietnam launched in 2016 by the Silicon Valley start-up accelerator and VC fund to capitalise on local market.

“We remain committed to 500 Startups Vietnam. We have a dedicated team to help us support our companies as they continue to scale and to maximise returns for our earliest supporters, our LPs,” said Binh Tran.

So far, 500 Startups Vietnam raised $14 million in 2018, which has been fully invested in more than 70 companies including ELSA, a language learning app, Base.vn and Axie Infinity.

According to a report of South Korean venture fund Nextrans, the investment in Vietnamese start-ups grew to reach US$100 million in the first quarter, an increase of 34 per cent over the previous term.

Founders of Ascend Vietnam Ventures considered Viet Nam as the fastest growing market in Southeast Asia for the past three decades and it is forecast to continue to play a critical role in the region for years to come.

With the belief Viet Nam will be a new tech capital in the near future, the two said: “Founders will find that the best place to start building Southeast Asia’s market leading company is in Viet Nam.

“We’re launching a new firm to invest larger checks and to provide more support for a more concentrated portfolio of companies.” — VNS