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STARTUPS

Touchstone Partners, a Viet- software and systems to automate tasks requiring high accuracy
nam-focused venture capital and high agility in different industries. It plans to use the funding
fund, announced on May 17 to expand operations in its Singaporean headquarters and its
that it participated in Eureka R&D office in Paris. The company will also establish a new
Robotics’ recently closed pre- office in Vietnam this July. “We recognize that Touchstone will
Series A round of funding led be a valuable partner as we bring the company to Vietnam, the
by The University of Tokyo Edge home of some of our core team members, and access the country’s
Capital Partners (UTEC), which raised $4.25 million. Founded vast tech talent pool,” said Dr. Cuong. Ms. Tu Ngo, General
by Dr. Pham Quang Cuong and Dr. Pham Tien Hung in 2018, Partner at Touchstone, said Eureka is the kind of company that
Eureka Robotics is a Singapore-based startup that develops can help Vietnam meet its Industry 4.0 goals.

Funding Societies, a Singapore-based digital financing platform, to increase this to $90 million
has made its fifth market expansion by entering Vietnam. this year and $1.3 billion by
The company is seeking cooperation with local technology 2025. It operated in Singapore,
platforms and banks while assessing Vietnam’s fintech sandbox Indonesia, Thailand and
policy to provide loans in local currency. “Funding Societies’ Malaysia before launching in
operations in Vietnam should be considered a supplement, Vietnam, and has disbursed
not alternative, to traditional banks,” said Mr. Kelvin Teo, over $2 billion in more than 5
Founder of Funding Societies. “It serves to fill the gap for million lending transactions. Earlier this year, Vietnamese
SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] financing, focusing tech giant the VNG Corporation invested $22.5 million in
on short-term loans with sizes of less than $1 million.” Since Funding Societies as part of the company’s $294 million
its soft launch in Vietnam in December 2021, Funding Societies Series C+ fundraising, of which $144 million was raised in
has achieved over $20 million in disbursements and is looking equity and $150 million in debt lines.

Finhay is raising $25 million been disclosed. Founded in 2017, Finhay received investment
in a new round of funding led from Australia’s H2 Ventures in a seed round. It is a platform
by the Singapore-based Open- that connects small investors with Vietnamese financial funds
space Ventures and Vietnam- and provides asset management solutions for users. In the
based Vietnam Investment Finhay system are open-ended funds such as VFB, TCBF, VF1,
Group (VIG). The funding BCF, and SCA. Most recently, it announced version 4.0 of the
round also featured Thien Viet Securities Company, which platform, allowing investment in diverse financial products.
invested in Finhay in the previous round. The deal value has not This is considered practical for middle-income workers.

Koina, an agricultural ecosystem startup, announced last month Koina will build a system to dig-
it has received undisclosed funding from Glife Technologies, part itize all knowledge, such as plant-
of the Singaporean capital fund Heliconia Capital, under Temasek. ing areas, farming plans, preser-
Koina is a pioneer in building a sustainable 4.0 agricultural vation knowledge, support poli-
ecosystem in Vietnam by developing a multi-channel sales network cies, and so on, to support farm-
from traditional distribution channels such as traditional markets ers, according to Mr. Luu Hoang
and modern sales channels like supermarkets, convenience stores, Khoa, CEO of Koina. The agri-
and HORECA (hotel, restaurant, catering services). Glife Tech- culture startup also plans to launch a pre-Series A funding round
nologies’ move to invest in Koina follows an $8.12 million Series in the third quarter of this year to improve its technology infra-
A funding round in Glife led by Heliconia Capital last November. structure and expand markets.

Biotech company Entobel main products: insect meal, insect oil, and organic fertilizer.
announced it has successfully With this new funding, Entobel plans a global expansion of its
raised $30 million in funding insect protein technology, having had a “growing blue-chip cus-
from Vietnamese private equity tomer base” and industrial partnerships for R&D activities. Both
firm Mekong Capital’s Mekong also ensure their market relevance and competitiveness in the
Enterprise Fund IV and Dragon long run. Founded in 2013 by two Belgian entrepreneurs, its
Capital. Entobel produces insect- production facility in southern Dong Nai province has a capacity
based ingredients from black soldier flies for various industries, of 1,000 tons of insect meal per year. The company plans to set
including animal feed, pet food, and fertilizer. Entobel has three up a second plant by 2023.

40 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | JUNE 2022 www.en.vneconomy.vn