Vietnamese behemoth Vingroup has launched VinVentures, its new $150-million venture capital fund to target startups in Vietnam and the broader Southeast Asian region.
Sponsored by Vingroup and its billionaire chairman Pham Nhat Vuong, two-thirds of VinVentures’ assets under management is an inherited investment portfolio from Vingroup, while the remaining $50 million is expected to be disbursed over the next three to five years, according to a statement.
Vingroup initially established a tech investment company called Vingroup Ventures in 2018. In early 2020, DealStreetAsia reported that the conglomerate renamed the unit to Vinhomes Industrial Park Investment JSC and transferred its ownership to its real estate subsidiaries.
“Vingroup will continue to consider venture capital investment opportunities in technology, but has delegated this mission to subsidiaries so that they can select investment options within their own sectors,” a Vingroup spokesperson spoke to DealStreetAsia at that time.
Meanwhile, the new entity, VinVentures, will focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), semiconductors, cloud computing, and other high-tech products. The firm aims to back local startups at the seed to Series A stage, but will also look out for regional startups in markets with development traits similar to Vietnam, such as Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
It said to seek commercially viable products and services “with substantial practical applications”, founding teams with established credibility and extensive experience, and “clearly defined profit expectations”.
Prior to VinVentures, Vingroup had invested in and incubated a spate of tech companies through funds such as Vingroup Ventures and VinTech City, and developed products known as VinBigData, VinAI, VinBrain and VinCSS.
Meanwhile, VinVentures’ website mentions seven portfolio companies, including Trovapage, a social commerce platform founded by former Alipay executives; and global startups in the electric vehicle (EV) and AI space such as StoreDot (invested by VinES); and ProLogium, Autobrains, Eatron Technologies, Karamba Security and AM Batteries (invested by VinFast).
Vingroup has started to morph into a technology conglomerate for a few years, instead of focusing on its long-established real estate operations, with a key pillar in building up its EV business.
The company sold its retail network VinMart to Masan Group as part of the plan.
Its EV unit, VinFast, was listed on Nasdaq last August IPO, and has garnered a market capitalization of about $9 billion. With presence in Vietnam, North America, Europe, and India, VinFast is eyeing expansion across Southeast Asia, with market penetration already in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Vingroup also has a ride-hailing business, GSM, which is also venturing out of Vietnam to Indonesia and Laos.
