Page 38 - Layout 1

startups

The VNG Corporation (VNG) has announced a $6 million investment in Got It, a premium digital
gifting, loyalty, and rewards voucher platform. The investment opens up enormous possibilities,
not only in voucher technology but also in artificial intelligence (AI) and P2P (person-to-person)
gifting in Vietnam. The Got It premium voucher offers instant choice from over 160 famous
brands in more than 12,000 locations nationwide. Got It also presents new opportunities for VNG
to expand existing gifting services, business-to-business channels, and merchant networks,
especially for Zalo and ZaloPay users. VNG seeks investments that bring users more enjoyment
and benefits, and Got It is a perfect fit for such a strategy. Mr. Bruce Moulin, Co-founder and CEO
of Got It, said it has been their goal to partner with VNG since they first launched back in 2015. “Our new partnership allows Got It to
access exciting new technologies and many of the sharpest tech minds in the country,” he added.

Citics - a Vietnamese online real estate platform - last month raised $1 million in Pre-Series A
funding from a group of international and domestic investors, including Vulpes Investment Man-
agement, Nextrans, and TheVentures. Citics previously raised $700,000 from multiple angel
investors, many of whom also participated in this round. By digitizing and centralizing many
fragmented data sources, Citics aims to build the first comprehensive real estate data platform in
Vietnam to power trustworthy, speedy, and seamless real estate transactions that include real
estate valuations, sales-purchases, leases, and mortgages, etc. With this fresh capital, Citics will
expand its valuation service to more than 30 cities and provinces around Vietnam. The company
also plans to digitize real estate data from 20 cities and provinces and create a database of more
than 18 million properties, of which 8 million have valuations. Since launching its product - Citics
Valuation - in early 2020, Citics has signed contracts with ten banks and posted monthly growth of more than 30 per cent. “We are excited
about Citics’ technology and data platform, which will serve as the basis for developing many different real estate-related services in the
future,” said Mr. Jani Rautiainen, Co-founder of Property Guru and Venture Partner at Vulpes Investment Management. “We are delighted
to have the opportunity to be part of the Citics journey.”

On March 9, ThinkZone and the BK Fund - a startup investment fund of the Hanoi University of
Science and Technology - announced a long-term cooperation plan on managing BK Fund I to
support searching and investing in potential tech startups of university alumni and its staff network.
ThinkZone will search for, select, and appraise potential startups and introduce them to the BK
Fund’s investment committee. Startups will have the opportunity to receive investments from
ThinkZone Ventures, the BK Fund, and individual investors in the BK Fund team. For startups with
substantial potential, the investment size could be as high as $1 million. These startups will also be
selected to participate in the ThinkZone Accelerator program, and directly receive training and
support totaling than $50,000 from program partners, including AWS, MISA, VietnamBiz, FPT
Play, and others. They will also receive support from seasoned entrepreneurs within the university’s
alumni. “ThinkZone Ventures is now preparing Fund II to invest in startups from Seed to Pre-Series A, so the cooperation with the BK Fund
will help us increase resources to assist startups from the university develop and enter the market,” said Mr. Bui Thanh Do, Founding
Partner and CEO of ThinkZone Ventures.

Igloo, a Singapore-based insurance company, officially entered the Vietnam market on March 16 by
cooperating with MobiFone and Loship. It will provide risk insurance services in cases where drivers
fail to deliver food, which will help them do their job more easily. For only VND28,900 ($1.25) a
month, drivers will receive return delivery fees if buyers decide to return the food or if the order is
wrongly delivered. With MobiFone, they have introduced the “Mobicare” service to more than 30
million MobiFone users, offered by PVI Insurance (PetroVietnam Insurance). A personal accident
insurance product, “Mobicare” is exclusively designed for MobiFone customers and includes a daily
allowance, an internet data packet, and telemedicine consulting from Doctor Anywhere. “With our
technological ability, we are hoping to make changes to the traditional insurance sector and bring
low-cost insurance products to the majority of citizens,” said Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc, Commercial Partner and Insurance Managing Director at
Igloo. “Our partnerships have helped us identify the problems Vietnamese consumers meet every day. Especially during the Covid 19
pandemic, we can make adjustments to protect what really matters to them.”

The SK Group, South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate, officially launched the SK Startup Fellowship
2021 (SKSF 2021) on March 9 in Ho Chi Minh City. The Fellowship is an annual program that aims to
discover and support the development of early-stage startups with potential and establish a long-
term companionship with local startups. SKSF 2021 is projected to identify and select 12 excellent
startups that meet the requirements of having raised less than $3 million. The top 4 will receive
$50,000 and the remainder $16,000. The finalists will be offered in-kind support from SKSF and its
partners. Startups will also have the opportunity to connect directly and search for cooperative
opportunities with the SK Group and its subsidiaries. SK has proven its goodwill in building a strong
relationship with Vietnamese startups by planning to invite the batch from each year to its facilities in South Korea and meet with senior
management. SKSF 2021 also partners with their program partner, BSSC (Business Startup Support Center), to increase the value of
startups in the local startup ecosystem.

36 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | APRIL 2021