Vietnam’s Rootopia secures $1m to aid more students in need of education loans

Rootopia, a fintech startup connecting students with angel investors in Vietnam, has announced that it recently secured US$1 million in a pre-seed round.

With the fresh capital from Genesia Ventures, ThinkZone Venture, and BK Fund, Rootopia will now be able to grow its early user base to reach product-market fit. It also plans to improve its technology platform to serve more students and help uplift their future through better education.

Rootopia that was founded in July 2021 by Nguyen Xuan Truong and Tran Quang Khanh has already connected students from over 100 schools and educational centres in Vietnam with different angel investors. Truong was former CEO of leading local on-demand delivery platform Ahamove while Khanh is a geek, who co-founded and held CTO’s role at GEEK Up.

The fintech platform helps connect angel investors with parents who are in need of funds for their children’s school fees.

Each case undergoes strict appraisal to ensure that the loan will be granted to the right borrower, who also has the capability to repay this. Money will surely be put to good use since approved loans are paid directly to the schools.

Since its official launch more than a year ago, Rootopia has connected various students from over 100 schools and educational centres in ten provinces and cities in Vietnam with angel investors.

Most families in Vietnam value education as they spend almost half of their income to send their children to school.

But with the increasing autonomy of universities, they now tend to reduce their dependence on the state budget, thus increasing tuition by as much as 10 percent per year.

Rootopia sees an enormous opportunity here, the reason why it partnered with new investors to further expand its operations.

One of its partners, Genesia Ventures, is a Japanese VC firm investing in seed and early-stage startups. It has so far invested in ten startups in Vietnam: Homedy, Luxstay, Kamereo, Manabie, eDoctor, BuyMed, Vietcetera, Fundiin, Selly, MVillage.

Another partner, ThinkZone, focuses on pre-seed to Series A tech startups from diverse verticals, with investment sizes up to US$3 million. Its portfolio companies include EMDDI, eJoy,GIMO, Edupia, and Fundiin.

BK Fund, on the other hand, was established by businesses and individuals who are Bach Khoa (HUST) alumni to invest and contribute capital to invest, incubate and commercialise