HCM City–based venture fund 500 Startups Việt Nam announced on Wednesday that it will bring its Silicon Valley accelerator curriculum to Việt Nam in 2019 in partnership with South Korean multimedia retailer GS Shop.

The programme, named The Saola Accelerator after the rare Vietnamese deer also known as the “Asian unicorn”, aims to support start-ups in Việt Nam with US$100,000 investments and programmatic support.

In addition to the investment, each participating company will receive access to more than $500,000 worth of free perks and discounts from twenty 500 Startups partners including Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft.

According to the venture fund, The Saola Accelerator is 500 Startups’ latest step in its mission to back talented entrepreneurs, help them build companies at scale and develop thriving start-up ecosystems around the world.

“We’ve learned a lot from working with 1,000 companies in more than 40 growth program batches around the world,” said Marvin Liao, Partner at 500 Startups and head of its flagship accelerator programme in San Francisco. “We’re excited to bring that experience to Việt Nam."

In addition to capital, the Saola Accelerator will offer enhanced programming including 500 Startups’ signature Growth Hell Week plus hands-on support for growth.

The programme will conclude with a Demo Day, where the participating companies will share their products and progress to an invite-only audience of regional venture investors.

The Saola Accelerator will be operated in partnership with South Korean multimedia retailer GS Shop, which is also a limited partner in the 500 Startups Việt Nam fund. GS Shop plans to match 500 Startups Việt Nam’s investment in a select batch of companies, bringing the potential investment per company up to US$200,000.

“We believe Việt Nam’s existing incubators and accelerators have played an important role in nurturing start-ups in their earliest stages,” said Eddie Thái, a lead partner of 500 Startups Việt Nam. “Our programme is aimed at companies ready to break out and become Asian unicorns – saolas.”

500 Startups Việt Nam recently raised $14 million to invest in local companies, $4 million more than the initial target set when it announced the fund in 2016. The fund, managed by Eddie Thái and Bình Trần, has funneled a total of $3 million into 36 Vietnamese tech start-ups to date. — VNS