Vietnamese startups rally support to go global

KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services, estimates that venture capital investment in startups in Vietnam increased almost three-fold in the 2019-2021 period, from US$330 million to US$1.1 billion.

Home to just 1,600 startups at the start of the pandemic, the total has jumped to more than 3,000, cited data platform Tracxn.

“I believe that entrepreneurship has always run deep in Vietnamese culture. What is exciting about where we are now is that there have been enough large and international tech companies here for a few years, like Shopee, Grab, and Lazada, where young Vietnamese talents have been able to work, learn and see from the inside. This is how you operate a tech business at scale, they think. And then they want to go off and do it themselves,” said Erik Jonsson, partner at venture capitalist Antler Vietnam.

Antler Vietnam focuses on the early stage of startup funding, and seeks entrepreneurs instead of established entities. To date, Antler has invested in over 500 companies globally across 30 different industries. Of these companies, 41% have at least one female co-founder, and the founders represent 70 nationalities.

Antler’s goal is to build the pipeline for other Vietnamese and regional venture capital firms, ensuring the entrepreneurs graduating from their programme get maximum exposure in the global investment scene. “We can find the next wave of startup founders and give them the right access to mentorship, capital, and training to set them on their way to success,” said Jonsson.

One company that is working closely with Antler is Inflow. Capitalising on Vietnam’s extensive manufacturing capacity, Inflow sets out to serve small and medium direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands around the world that struggle to find trusted suppliers to manufacture their products.

Khanh Le, founder and CEO of Inflow, said, “Imagine small and medium D2C brands having the supply chain management and manufacturing power of giants such as H&M, Zara, or Nike, buying references will move towards smaller brands with better value-for-money products.”

By offering a platform combining supply chain management systems, selective suppliers, and secured payment options, Inflow is gaining interest from clients and peers around the world in just a few months since its launch. “Our mission is to bring big brands’ supply chain advantage to a large group of growing D2C brands,” said Le. “Vietnam is ranked second in the world for ready-made garment and footwear exports, and the quality of the final manufactured products from Vietnam is considered to be among the best in the world. There are a lot of advantages for choosing a Vietnamese supplier, which includes trade agreements with several countries, quick production time, and high-quality pieces at great prices.”

Le added that thanks to platforms and tools provided by Inflow, production time and costs have been reduced significantly, and clients are enabled to track their orders in real time. “We have achieved a very good conversion rate. All the brands we have talked to have placed trial orders,” she said.

Inflow is a new company but the important metrics, specific challenges, and draws of the startup world are not new to Le, a serial entrepreneur. Prior to Inflow, Le founded NextFit, a mobile app and platform connecting fitness personal trainers and consumers. She has worked in content creation, creativity, management, and manufacturing.

She received seeding investment from Antler Vietnam, and is now working with the Antler team for the next round of fundraising and product development.

“Startups are like the extreme sports of business and to survive it you have to be tough and flexible,” Jonsson of Antler explained. “Many of our founders have tried building something in the past and failed, and now feel they need a bit more structure and support from someone like Antler to be successful – which shows that we have found our place in the Vietnamese startup ecosystem within just one year here.”

Antler’s last cohort also saw the participation of more than 16 nationalities, making up 45% of participants who are not Vietnamese.

“What I want to see is a growing global mindset among Vietnamese entrepreneurs in order to offer universal solutions in different sectors,” Jonsson added. “If you produce an urban product, it’s useful to be able to roll it out in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and cities worldwide too.”