5/2/2018 – Lotte Accelerator, a startup booster from South Korea is looking to expand and diversify its investment capital in the Vietnam ecosystem this year.
Jin Sung Rhee, the CEO of Lotte Accelerator said, “We have completed our commitment to invest US$1 million in Vietnam’s startup ecosystem through a partnership with VSV called Vietnam Silicon Valley Accelerator (VSVA).”
Rhee also added that the fund will look at sectors including technology, finance, as well as retail to diversify its investments. So far, ten potential startups have been selected for investment to perfect their business models.
Lotte entered Vietnam in 1998 and since then has expanded to 12 subsidiaries in the country. But the company only started to explore the opportunities in the country’s startup space in 2016 with the Lotte Accelerator Awards.
The Lotte Accelerator Fund was launched in 2015 and has invested US$20 to US$50 million Korean won (about US$17.7k to US$44k) in each startup.
On the other hand, Vietnam’s government-backed accelerator VSV was established in 2013 and has incubated 52 startups in Vietnam so far.
With the US$1 million investment from Lotte Accelerator, it has doubled its pre-seed funding for each portfolio startup from US$10,000 to US$20,000 while keeping its holding rate unchanged at 10 percent.
With this new funding scheme, it is expected to scale up more quality startups, encourage young companies to operate in a more professional manner while reducing risks for them.
“In some advanced countries in the region, 80 percent of funds for startup research comes from private investment flow but in Vietnam, the number is very small,” said Thach Le Anh, Principal of VSV. “With this effort, we hope to change the private investment sphere for Vietnam’s startup which has been limited,”
