Key investment services

Hapaco eyes investment in 4-trillion-VND wind power project

February 16, 2021 by en.vietnamplus.vn

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Hapaco Group JSC is planning to invest 4 trillion VND (174.1 million USD) in a wind power project in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai.

The project is among those to be submitted for approval at the group’s annual shareholders’ meeting, which is slated for March 14.

The meeting will also discuss an investment in building a 23-ha care centre for the elderly in the northern city of Hai Phong’s Thuy Nguyen district as well as Hapaco’s new development orientations in social housing and guest worker services.

Hapaco (stock code HAP) was one of the first listed on Vietnam’s stock market. As of December 31 last year, its total asset exceeded more than 808 billion VND.

Last year, the group reeled in 335 billion VND in revenue, an annual decrease of 11 percent. Its after-tax profit, meanwhile, hit 34.3 billion VND, up 69 percent on-year./.

VNA

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

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.