Having exceeded the $50 million target for its flagship early-stage venture capital fund AVV Alpha, Ascend Vietnam Ventures (AVV) led by Binh Tran and Eddie Thai is seeking the next wave of globally iconic startups emerging from Vietnam.
Ascend Vietnam Ventures increases investments in startups in Vietnam
With AVV Alpha, the team has increased their investments in startups in Vietnam, seeding up to $2 million into 25 startups by next year and following on with checks of up to $5 million.
With the new fund, AVV has been exploring a broad range of tech opportunities including those in financial inclusion, education, and future of work. AVV Alpha has picked 10 startups in the past 9 months, including Kilo, Virtual Internships, T&C Logistics and Mandu.
AVV Alpha is backed by a mix of investors from Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including development finance institutions, funds of funds, corporate VCs, and high-net-worth individuals from leading local and regional companies.
Dave Richards, managing partner at Capria Ventures, said that Vietnam’s start-up ecosystem has demonstrated rapid growth, unique solutions, and the ability to create meaningful differences at scale. Capria has chosen to invest in AVV because of their extensive knowledge and networks in Vietnam, positive track record as entrepreneurs themselves, and as investors in the next generation of top startups in the region.
Eddie Thai said that founders choose to partner with the fund not merely for the checks we write.
"We are eager to work with them on building their long-term advantages in an increasingly competitive world. Our team deeply understands the entrepreneurial journey and can offer deep strategic perspectives and world-class best practices to help founders go the distance,” Thai noted.
Linh Dang, co-founder and chief operating officer at Mandu said: “After investment, it all comes down to who can genuinely advise and support".
Tran and Thai have been investing together in Vietnam since 2015 and have backed home-grown international successes such as Axie Infinity, ELSA, and Trusting Social.
They see that Vietnam’s dynamism, accessibility, low cost of living, as well as abundant quality engineering talent attract many founders. On top of that, many tech solutions built here can address similarchallenges and customer behaviors in other emerging markets worldwide.
"Vietnam will continue to be seen as one of the best places to build global or regional market-leading companies", said Binh Tran.
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