Vietnam Silicon Valley funds CoXplore on September 28 in Ha Noi.— Photo courtesy CoXplore
Investors led by the Vietnam Silicon Valley last Saturday announced funding for travel-tech start-up CoXplore in Ha Noi.
Founded by Huong Nguyen, a former digital nomad, travel and lifestyle blogger, the start-up developed a mobile app to help employees and freelancers find places to work remotely, anywhere, surrounded by the places and communities that inspire them.
The founder said: “The CoXplore app was developed to ease the lives of global entrepreneurs, remote workers and freelancers, helping them become location-independent professionals, or “digital nomads” as they are often called, by providing on-demand access to quality coworking spaces, work-friendly cafes and other relevant retreat experiences for our communities in Asia, to optimise work productivity away from home.”
Other investors included Lotte Accelerator and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Viet Nam, accelerated provided by MIST (Mekong Innovative Startups in Tourism) and WISE (Women Initiatives for Startups & Entrepreneurs) under initiatives of MBI and the Asian Development Bank.
Not disclosing the funding, the company said it aimed to expand rapidly across 10 Asia-Pacific countries in the coming months, and is valued at over a million US dollars within a few months of fund-raising in its pre-seeding round.
CoXplore's representative said: “It aims to make Asia the global hub for location-independent work.”
Jason Lusk from Mekong Innovative Startups in Tourism said: “Tomorrow’s workforce will work wherever it is most efficient and effective to work, whether that is a place that inspires creativity and focus, offers connectivity to valuable networks, makes long business trips more palatable, or helps manage costs. It is exciting to see a dynamic company like CoXplore from a country like Viet Nam to take the lead in accelerating the future of work.”
According to reports from Forbes, the newest demographic, “millennials” now travel more and further than past generations, they value once-in-a-lifetime experiences, shareable moments and living life to the fullest. Their habits are being supported by fast growing list of innovative, travel-focused tech-tools and functional mobile apps. — VNS