Vietnamese investment management company VinaCapital is teaming up with Silicon Valley venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson to launch a USD50m technology frontier fund.
Vietnamese investment management company VinaCapital is teaming up with Silicon Valley venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson to launch a USD50m technology frontier fund.
For the first time in Vietnam, a fund manager can offer entrepreneurs and companies in-depth technological experience and best practices from DFJ affiliates worldwide. The fund’s management team combines Silicon Valley expertise with on-the-ground Vietnam operating knowledge.
DFJ founder and managing partner Tim Draper is confident about the potential of venture capital opportunities in Vietnam. ‘Vietnam is now ripe and ready for venture capital investing,’ he says.
‘We at DFJ have decided to pursue the obvious opportunity created by the opening up of this extraordinary and very entrepreneurial country. We definitely look forward to the exciting market in Vietnam and are happy to be part of this growth.’
Don Lam, co-founder and managing partner of VinaCapital Group, says: ‘Our partnership with DFJ is a major milestone for VinaCapital. I have great faith that it will bring Vietnam’s technology entrepreneurship and venture investment sector to a world-class standard.’ commented on the partnership.
Louis Nguyen, who has global investment experience and will manage the day-to-day operations of the fund, says: ‘We will invest in Vietnamese companies to accelerate technology adoption locally and to foster development of new technologies with potential for global sales.’
DFJ VinaCapital seeks to invest in opportunities that complement the expertise and ventures of its partners in technology initiatives and also aims to develop internet penetration in Vietnam. The fund will provide local entrepreneurs with capital to help nurture technologies and products developed within the country.
Initial areas on which the fund will focus include wireless communications, broadband applications for consumers, the internet and privatisation of state-owned telecom businesses. The fund has already invested in a Vietnamese internet portal. The funding will enable the company to expand into new segments, grow nationally, and bolster sales and marketing.
VinaCapital Group is an asset management, corporate finance and real estate firm based in Vietnam that creates and delivers investment products, financing, and merger and acquisition services. The firm currently manages more than USD500m is assets and employs more than 80 professionals in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Hong Kong.
Founded in 1985 and based in Silicon Valley, Draper Fisher Jurvetson has a global presence through a network of affiliated funds, with offices in more than 30 cities worldwide and USD3.5bn in capital commitments.
Over the past 20 years, DFJ has backed some 300 companies across a myriad sectors including Hotmail (acquired by Microsoft), Baidu, Skype (acquired by eBay), United Online, Overture (acquired by Yahoo!), Interwoven, 411 (also acquired by Yahoo!), Parametric and Digidesign.
