An investment report to potential investors

Investors confident in Vietnam’s innovative startup ecosystem

February 26, 2021 by en.vietnamplus.vn

Head of the Vietnam representative office of Genesia Venture s Hoang Thi Kim Dung speaks at a workshop on attraction of venture investment capital for innovative startups (Photo: hoilhpn.org.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – Investor s are confident in the potential of Vietnam’s innovative startup ecosystem, and believe the country will become a big investment market in the region and the world, according to head of the Vietnam representative office of Genesia Ventures, an investment fund of Japan, Hoang Thi Kim Dung.

According to a report published by Do Ventures – a venture capital fund that focuses on making investments in tech startups in Vietnam and Southeast Asia – in 2020, Vietnam’s innovative startup ecosystem ranked third in Southeast Asia, after Singapore and Indonesia.

Vietnam’s national innovation startup ecosystem is likely to earn a berth in the top 15 emerging ones in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030, the report said.

The Prime Minister in 2016 approved a project to support the national innovative startup ecosystem through 2025 under Decision No. 844/ QD-TTg (Project 844), which was designed to promote and support the formation and development of startup projects or startup enterprises and urgently complete the legal system to support innovative startups.

To further promote the development of Vietnam’s innovative startup ecosystem in an intensive manner, recently the PM has approved the amending and supplementing of a number of articles in Decision No 844/QD-TTg.

Accordingly, an additional target is to build a system of innovation centres to support research and development (R&D) and creative startups, in tandem with ensuring their successful operation with specific, outstanding and highly competitive mechanisms and policies to make sure that they will be on par with other regionally and internationally leveled ones.

The green light will be given to developing national creative startup support centres in Vietnam’s three largest cites: Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, and innovative startup centres at ministries, sectors and localities, and organizations which boast potential for innovation and startup.

Attention will be paid to encouraging more interaction amongst innovative startup centres across the country and innovative startup ecosystems at home and abroad.

Vietnam hopes to establish international cooperation programmes with partners in at least five prestigious innovative startup ecosystems in the world by 2025, and attract more foreign resources to support domestic innovation startups.

According to statistics from the Project 844’s office, there are nearly 100 venture capital funds in Vietnam, including about 20 domestic funds. Each investment fund has different networks and strengths, so startups need to thoroughly research and group potential investors in accordance with their development orientation and goals./.

VNA

Korean investors join Metro Line 5

February 23, 2021 by www.vir.com.vn

Metro Line 5, phase 2, has a total length of about 14.5km, from Bay Hien intersection to the new Can Giuoc bus station

In a letter sent to the Management Authority for Urban Railways of Ho Chi Minh City (MAUR) and Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Soun-young Chung, general manager of Kexim Bank’s Global Business Cooperation Division said that the bank will soon finance the pre-feasibility study.

The project will transform from official development assistance (ODA) to the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

The study is implemented on three specific aspects: engineering, financing, and legality.

Members of the research team and participating investors have extensive experience in the construction and operation of urban railway lines, including Metro Line 9 of Seoul, Korea, built under the PPP model.

On January 19, the MAUR worked with a group of investors and consulting companies from Korea.

The group consists of Kexim Bank, Hyundai Engineering Co., Ltd., Lotte Corporation, Samil PwC (finance consultant), Dohwa Engineering (engineering consultant), Sejong Corporation, and Shearman & Sterling (legal advisory), among others.

It is anticipated that the pre-feasibility study will be summited by the end of 2020.

The pre-feasibility study of phase 2 of Metro Line 5 was previously funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). However, due to objective reasons, the ODA form cannot be implemented and is being replaced by the PPP format.

At present, KOICA is funding an urban planning research technical assistance project based on transit-oriented development (TOD) on this section.

Metro Line 5 has a total length of 23.4km separated into two phases. Phase 1, from Bay Hien intersection to Saigon Bridge, has a total length of about 8.89km and a total investment value of about $1.66 billion. Phase 2, from Bay Hien intersection to the new Can Giuoc bus station, has a total length of about 14.5km.

Funding for this project comes from the Spanish government, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Investment Bank (EIB), and German Reconstruction Bank (KfW).

Ho Chi Minh City is planning to construct eight metro lines with a total length of about 220km, with the total investment of nearly $25 billion. Currently, Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien) and Line 2 (Ben Thanh-Tham Luong) have been invested in the form of ODA.

In addition to phase 2 of Metro Line 5, which is calling for investment, Ho Chi Minh City is also calling for investment in four other metro lines, including Line 2 (phase 2), 3A, 4, and 5 (phase 1).

By Truc Anh

Vietnam’s delivery e-commerce startup Loship raises funds from Skype co-founder

February 26, 2021 by www.vir.com.vn

Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn is the latest big tech name to invest in Vietnamese startup Loship

Tallinn’s investment in Loship puts him on a list of global tech leaders betting on Vietnamese tech startups, which has shown resilience and growth even amidst COVID-19. Thus, Loship is poised to become a prominent tech figure for any seasoned investor looking at Vietnam, according to Loship CEO Trung Hoang Nguyen.

“MetaPlanet’s investment will help us build a much stronger image of Loship as a National Startup Hero. The competition will be much steeper in the long term, and we hope to pick up deep tech insights from Jaan Tallinn that can be applied to the Vietnam market,” he further opined.

The latest fundraising, which is part of the startup’s Series C round, comes just four months after its undisclosed bridge round led by Vulpes Investment Management. The new funding would fuel Loship’s path to becoming Vietnam’s leading one-hour-delivery e-commerce platform.

“We already have a winning playbook, and we look to expand it to more markets. Secondly, we know what we want to do with our product, and there are just 1 per cent of things that have been done. So, a huge portion of the funding will be poured into upgrading our app and increasing our tech capability. Also, we will ramp up marketing strategies to strengthen our foothold in the existing markets,” stated the CEO.

Founded in 2017, Loship traces its roots back to Lozi , a review app allowing users to find food, beverage, and coffee shops, before transitioning into a one-hour-delivery services platform. Loship had earlier closed its Series A and B rounds from several investors, including South Korea’s Smilegate Investment, Hana Financial Group, DTNI, Golden Gate Ventures, before announcing its Vulpes Investment Management-led bridge round in October 2020. The round was joined by DAAL Ventures and Wealth Well (Saudi Arabia-based VC Firms), Eucagi Ventures (Nigerian VC Firm), KI Group, and the vice president of Starbucks.

By Thanh Van

World News in Brief: February 26

February 26, 2021 by en.nhandan.org.vn

* China and India should firmly follow the right path of mutual trust and cooperation between neighboring major countries, and not go astray with suspicion and distrust nor fall back on a road of negative retrogression, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday. Wang made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, stressing that the two sides should maintain the strategic consensuses reached by their leaders.

* As COVID-19 transmission rates seemingly decline across the European Region, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge expressed health concerns over “long-COVID” or “post-COVID” symptoms at a virtual press conference on Thursday.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Armenia in a telephone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday, the Kremlin said.

* The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that the US military had conducted airstrikes against infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria. The Pentagon called the operation a “proportionate military response” carried out after consultations with coalition partners.

* China approved two more vaccines for public use, raising the number of domestically produced vaccines that can be used in China to four.

* Japan on Friday is preparing to lift the state of emergency over COVID-19 for five prefectures where the situation has improved, although the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area will likely be kept under the emergency period for the time being, according to government sources.

* The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported on Friday 2,651 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily increase since Oct. 17 last year, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 571,327.

* Leaders of the European Union (EU) called for an accelerated production and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines late on Thursday as the bloc is struggling with supply shortfalls.

* Brazil surpassed 250,000 COVID-19 deaths, while France and Germany said COVID-19 is here to stay after European Union leaders discussed ways to fight new variants of the virus, step up inoculations and save Europe’s tourism industry from another ruinous summer.

* Europe’s medicines regulator issued new guidance for drug makers that modify their vaccines to protect against variants of the virus to speed up the approval process.

* France will bring in new restrictions for the Moselle area around its common border with Germany, and impose measures including weekend lockdowns in Paris and 19 other regions from the start of March if signs of the coronavirus accelerating persist.

* Australia’s Victoria state will start easing restrictions from Friday night.

* Republic of Korea launched its inoculation campaign, with shots to be administered in some 200 nursing homes.

* US President Joe Biden’s administration plans to launch a campaign to educate Americans about vaccines in anticipation of a period later this year where supply may outstrip demand because of vaccine hesitancy.

* Brazil will purchase 20 million doses of the vaccine made by India’s Bharat Biotech for delivery between March and May.

* Canada’s vaccination campaign is ramping up after earlier supply disruptions and the number of inoculations last week hit a five-week high.

* Pfizer and BioNTech said they are testing a third dose of their vaccine to better understand the immune response against new variants of the virus.

* Mexico’s economy grew quicker than first estimated during the fourth quarter as the country recovered from its sharpest economic contraction in nearly nine decades.

* Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen to the lowest level since 1995 as coronavirus restrictions limited travel. Data released by the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources on Friday revealed that emissions fell by 4.4 percent in the 12 months to September 2020.

* Security personnel of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) rescued more than 80 Rohingya refugees who had been onboard a boat drifting in the waters of Andaman Sea for 10 days, and retrieved eight dead bodies.

* Republic of Korea’s quarantine authorities said Friday that it will extend the country’s five-tier social-distancing rules at the third-highest level in the Seoul metropolitan area for two weeks.

* US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he would work to make US-Saudi relations “as strong and transparent as possible.” Biden made the remarks in the first phone conversation with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud since Biden’s inauguration.

* Germany’s Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure said on Wednesday that more than EUR5 billion (US$6.1 billion) would be invested in the modernization of over 3,000 railway stations across the country.

* Colombian President Ivan Duque announced a decision Thursday night to extend a declared national health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic by three more months, as the vaccination drive entered its eighth day.

* AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot said he hoped to meet the EU’s expectations on the number of vaccines the company can deliver to the bloc in the second quarter.

* The Czech prime minister said people’s movement needed to be “radically” limited over at least the next three weeks.

* Portugal extended until at least mid-March a nationwide lockdown.

* The African Union is backing calls for drugmakers to waive some intellectual property rights on COVID-19 medicines and vaccines.

* Israel has frozen its programme to send vaccines abroad to buy international goodwill, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said, after the initiative came under legal scrutiny.

* Bahrain has approved Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine for emergency use.

Local firms keen on purchase of COVID-19 vaccines

February 26, 2021 by vov.vn

Coteccons Construction Joint Stock Company and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam have already registered to purchase tens of thousands of doses which would be distributed among their employees and family members, according to a reports thanhnien.vn.

Dat Xanh Group, a real estate developer, has also announced plans to fund inoculations for over 7,300 employees working at 68 of its affiliates nationwide.

Furthermore, Phu Nhuan Jewelry, one of the country’s leading gold and gem stone firms, has agreed to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for staff members. It has also raised a total of VND270 million in support of the free vaccination campaign for groups of underprivileged people in society, including the poor.

Meanwhile, the Canada International School Vietnam has also decided to allocate a fund of VND3 billion for its immunisation campaign in an effort to vaccinate its teachers and staff, as well as the parents of students, providing the conditions allow.

Despite this initial interest, the Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC), the only agency assigned by the Ministry of Health to receive, preserve, and distribute COVID-19 vaccines domestically, has said due to limited supplies, imported vaccines will be available for priority groups first. Specifically, frontline healthcare workers would be at the head of the queue.

Vaccination inoculations will be regulated by the Government, according to a VNVC representative.

Vietnam imported its first batch of more than 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on February 24.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) subsequently published a list of 11 groups of people that will benefit from the vaccination campaign, with priority to be given to frontline healthcare workers, soldiers, border forces, policemen, and those on duty in isolation areas and quarantine facilities.

The MoH is currently considering licensing two additional COVID-19 vaccines produced by Moderna of the United States and Generium of Russia.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said the country requires at least 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines which can be used to inoculate citizens this year. However, he confirmed the MoH is likely to get only 90 million doses in 2021.

Along with the import of 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine agreed with AstraZeneca and COVAX, Vietnam is in the midst of negotiating to import a further 30 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine of the US, said Long

Four Vietnamese research institutes and companies are now researching and developing COVID-19 vaccines, with two locally-produced vaccines, Nano Covax and Vovivac, carrying out human clinical trials.

During a recent Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested the MoH and relevant agencies to speed up the national vaccination campaign , considering this to be key to slowing the spread of the virus among the community.

“Our strategy is to vaccinate approximately 100 million Vietnamese people,” PM Phuc said.

Due to limited supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, the country has yet to launch paid immunisation services, said Associate Professor Tran Dac Phu, former director of the National Preventive Medicine Department and currently a senior member of National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control.