Vietnam’s NextTech Group Seeks To Support Startup Founders with $10m Early-Stage Fund

Vietnamese founders who are struggling during their early startup stages can now turn to a new fund for support.

Vietnam-based technology firm NextTech Group of Technopreneurs has launched a $10 million early-stage-focused fund with a hybrid model of venture builder, ecosystem, and venture capital.

A first of its kind in Vietnam, Next100 will participate in seed rounds of startups with an investment of $100,000 to $1 million to boost the country’s burgeoning startup ecosystem.

“Next100 aims to support Vietnamese founders in solving the trickiest hurdles during early startup stages to maximize success rate at optimal cost and time, as well as be the launchpad for aspiring founders to succeed locally and scale regionally,” NextTech Group said in a statement.

NextTech Group has identified the three biggest hurdles that every startup will encounter. These include the inability to find the “Point of Impact”, not having access to a synergistic ecosystem, and shortage of funding.

The company itself has gone through every stage of a startup from “Zero to One” period in 2001 to scaling up to become a diversified multi-services ecosystem in 2009 and regionalisation to Southeast Asia in 2014.

During the launch of Next100, Managing Partner Dao Minh Phu said the target audience for the fund are technology startups who are digitising traditional industries, or traditional startups that are leveraging technology to increase efficiency and productivity in their respective sectors.

These startups, Phu said, should have the common goal “to disrupt or optimize traditional practices to deliver new added value for society”.

Next100’s key criteria for potential investments are founding team’s core competencies with out-of-the-box creative mindset; deep understanding of the chosen sector; and a breakthrough and scalable business idea.

The fund has already completed its most recent investments in Vietnam, including VayMuon.vn – Vietnam’s premier P2P lending platform; HeyU – instant delivery-on-demand and concierge service platform; and Teky.edu.vn – Vietnam’s first and largest technology chained academy for kids.

Established in 2001, NextTech now operates in 8 other markets across Southeast Asia and China, focusing on four major sectors – ecommerce, financial technology, e-logistics, and education.