According to Adjust’s Mobile Growth Map – a mobile market
research company, Vietnam is the fastest growing application market that keeps
Internet users.
In 2017, Korean President Moon Jae-in announced a new policy
aimed at strengthening the relationship between Korea and ASEAN. These policies
have boosted the dynamism of Korean companies to Southeast Asian business.
More and more companies in every field aim to Southeast Asia.
Many of them, are venture capitalists.
Over the past two years, Southeast Asian technology companies
have signed numerous agreements involving Korean investors, such as the 50
million USD investment in Bukalapak e-commerce company of Mirae Asset-Naver
Growth Fund, seed sponsorship deals for real estate startups from BonAngels
Venture Partners and Kakao Ventures.
In addition to trade and real estate, Korean venture capital
funds have poured money into almost every other important area of Southeast
Asia including fintech (KIP’s investment in C88 in Singapore), car (SoftBank
Ventures Korea in Singapore by Carro), travel (BonAngels and Nextrans in
Vietnam) and logistics (Nextrans and FuturePlay into EcoTruck Vietnam).
In recent years, Korean venture capital companies have also
established joint funds with partners in Southeast Asia to target startups in
the region, including a cooperation fund worth 87 million USD of Korean
Investment Partners with Golden Equator, the 100 million USD cooperation fund
of Intervest and Kejora Ventures. The bigger ones are Hanwha Asset Management
and Golden Gate Ventures with 200 million USD fund and most recently the
investment fund of about 100 million USD of KB Investment and MDI Ventures.
In 2017, Southeast Asia’s
private capital and venture capital surpassed Europe for the first time, with
the amount of 23.5 billion USD invested in this area, nearly three times higher
than in 2016, according to data from Singapore Venture
Capital & Equity Association
(SVCA). Investments in startups doubles to 8 billion USD. In
2018, Alibaba invested an additional of 2 billion USD in Lazada while
Indonesia’s Gojek closed the 1.5 billion USD funding round.
Korean investors pay special attention to Indonesia and Vietnam.
According to the Vietnam Technology Investment Report of Cento Ventures and ESP
Capital, 13 of 61 venture capital funds operating in Vietnam in the first half
of 2019 are Korea.
According to Adjust’s Mobile Growth Map – a mobile market
research company, Vietnam is the fastest growing application market that keeps
Internet users.
One of the reasons is that Vietnam is the market with the
largest potential for internet growth worldwide.
That’s why so many businesses come to this region, and so many
acquirers are actively looking for Southeast Asian companies. Silicon Valley
giants like Google and competitors are beginning to look more seriously at
Southeast Asian companies as an investment and acquisition opportunity.
ANT Lawyers - Vietnam
international law firm is supported
by a team of experienced Vietnam Law and skills handling full range of
legal services relating to setting up business in Vietnam.
