Innovatube, a pre-seed venture firm, launched a US$5 million pre-seed fund for Southeast Asian startups.

The new fund targets startups in the Southeast Asian region, especially Viet Nam, as it has achieved some success in the market and realised its potential.

The fund will focus on solutions for businesses and frontier tech areas such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, augmented and vitual reality, Fintechs and Blockchains.

Innovatube will invest in the pre-seed round and exchange for five to 10 per cent equity of a portfolio startup.

The fund was founded by Hajime Hotta and Danny Goh, two entrepreneurs and angel investors from Singapore and London. Over the last three years, the fund has invested in eight companies in Viet Nam.

Even before introducing the fund, Innovatube had been a familiar face in the Vietnamese start-up community, sharing experiences of early-stage startups.

Last year, it co-operated with nine other partners in the region to organise the ASEAN Ricebowl Startup Awards, a series of events throughout Southeast Asia that lauds those in the startup community who display exemplary talent in their field.

Another popular event of the venture firm is Launch IT, allowing people to discover the newest startup products in Viet Nam. — VNS