VIETNAM STARTUP INVESTMENT INSIGHT: 2017 IN SNAPSHOT

● Deal counts doubled: 92 deals, up from 50 in 2016

● The year of exits: 8 acquisitions, total $128M
● Strongest appetite: Sea Group (Garena), 3 out of 6 deals $10M+
● “EFF” E-commerce, Foodtech and Fintech saw the highest
number of transactions
● The rise of locals: The first time locals VCs and angels bypassed In 2016, 9 TFI startups got funded,
foreigners in deal count; however the latter still generated higher accounting for 26% of all early stage
deal value funding deals in Vietnam (Seed, Series A).

● Top exit investor: CyberAgent Ventures successfully exited 4
startups this year with Foody, CleverAds, Tiki (partial), Vexere
(partial)
● Start of ICO wave: $52m raised by Vietnamese-founded Kyber
Network; several other ICOs and crypto-investors preparing
launch
“TFI Mafia” consists of hundreds of
startups, investors, mentors promoting a
“Pay-It-Forward” culture in building the
startup ecosystem.
FACTS

Since $20m+ 26% $100m

Funding Of Early Stage Combined
2011 Raised Deals in 2016 Valuation

For detailed deals info visit us:

Topi.ca/tfi

Compiled by Topica Founder Institute

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VIETNAM STARTUP DEALS 2017: DEAL COUNT DOUBLED TO 92, DEAL VALUE UP 42% AT $291M.

● Deal counts: doubled to 92 (¹) from 50 in 2016 Number of deals & deal value
● New record in startup deal value: $291M (²), a 42% YoY growth from $205M
last year; Deal value (US$ million) 137 205 291
● Top 6 deals amounted to $198M (Details in table below): 100
90
Investee Investors Type Estimated size 80
70
Foody Sea Group Acquisition $64M
60
2 Undisclosed deals Sea Group Acquisition $50M
50
92
Tiki JD.COM Series C $54M 40
STIC Investment 67
30
Undisclosed TNB Ventures Series A $20M 50
20
24 25 28
Vntrip Hendale Capital Series B $10M 10
10
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Deal size comparison
61 10
<1m
1m-5m 17 35 ô
5m-10m 8 48

10m-20m 3 40

>20m 3 158

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 50 100 150 200

Deal count Deal value (US$ million)
(¹) 92 deals found through data gathered from information with trusted sources, both announced and undisclosed. There could possibly be more due to the remaining numbers of
undisclosed transactions
(²) Excluding 2 large deals worth $100+ each, involving Vietnamese businesses but with complex regional structure.
Compiled by Topica Founder Institute
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REGIONAL UNICORN ACQUISITION LED TO LOCAL VCs SUCCESSFUL EXIT
Notable acquisition deals
● Sea Group (formerly Garena) acquired 82% stake of Foody for
$64M around $64M, the most significant acquisition deal of the year.
Besides, Sea also acquired two top Fintech and logistic player
(undisclosed details, estimated value up to $50M, sources
said), consolidating their position leadership in Vietnam.
~$50M 2 undisclosed
deals ● Telenor acquisition of 701Search, regional holding of Chotot.vn,
a local classified site, for $109M was one of the notable deals
A top Fintech and
to watch, impacting Vietnam startup ecosystem. (*)
a logistic player

Top exit investor

● Top exit investor: CyberAgent Ventures successfully exited 4

deals this year with Foody, CleverAds, Tiki (partial), Vexere
(partial).

(*) Due to regional complex regional structure, this deal was excluded from total deal value & deal count in the Vietnam startup deals report.Compiled by Topica Founder Institute
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“ EFF”: E-COMMERCE, FINTECH AND FOODTECH LED THE SCENE

• E-commerce rose on top of the scene with 21 deals

Deals by top 6 industries
in 2017, approximately of $83M in value.
100
Food tech
• Followed by Foodtech with the presence of Foody, $65M
Cooky and an undisclosed platform and social
community related to food and restaurants, at a total 75 Fintech
deal size of $65M. $57M
E-commerce

$ in millions
• Fintech stepped back to third place with 8 deals, $83M
50
contributing $57M.
Logistics
$18M Media
• Media also climbed to the “top list” with 9 deals and $18M
above $18M in deal value. 25

• Logistics and Online travel contributed to the list Online travel

with 5 deals in total, $18M and $10M in deal value $11M
0
respectively, some of big names are Vntrip, 0 5 10 15 20 25
Inspitrip... Deal volume

Compiled by Topica Founder Institute

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DEAL COUNT BY LOCAL VCs AND ANGELS BYPASSED FOREIGN INVESTORS
BUT THE LATTER ACCUMULATED HIGHER DEAL VALUE
Deals count of local vs foreign investors. “ Big 4 investors” by deal size ($M)
120 114
Local investors 64
100
Foreign investors 28
80
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 60
Deals value of local vs foreign investors ($US millions) 44
40
Local investors 46 20
20 13
Foreign investors 245
0
SEA JD.COM TNB Venture Mekong Capital
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
“ Big 4 investors” by deal count (*)
12 11
• The first time local VCs & angels surpassed foreign investors in
term of deal count, by a factor of 2. However, foreign investors 10
still generated higher deal value. 8
6 5
• Among VCs & PE, 500 Startups led the scene with 11 deals, 4 3 3
followed by ESP Capital – a new homegrown VC. 2
0
• The rise of local VCs: VIISA, ESP, VSV, 500 Startups Vietnam 500 Startups VN ESP Capital Nextrans SEA
and Shark Tank together sealed 49 early stage deals in 2017
(*) Excluding accelerators from this ranking

Compiled by Topica Founder Institute

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VIETNAM STARTUP ECOSYSTEM BENEFITS FROM REGIONAL UNICORNS
Accelerators Series A and Series B Coworking Space Events

Pre Seed/Seed

Community & Media Corporate Investors

Government

Compiled by Topica Founder Institute

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ABOUT TOPICA FOUNDER INSTITUTE

Since
60 $20m+ $100m+
Startup Funding Combined
2011 Graduates Raised Valuation
26%
Topica Founder Institute (TFI) builds real startups, with real products, real
revenues, and real funding.
of Seed and Series A deals in Vietnam
“TFI Mafia” consists of hundreds of startups, investors, mentors promoting a in 2016 are TFI Graduates
“Pay-It-Forward” culture in building the startup ecosystem.

Highlighted graduates

Batch 2018 opening in April

Topi.ca/tfi

Compiled by Topica Founder Institute

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DISCLAIMER

Data contains both disclosed and undisclosed (non-exhaustive) investment deals that took place in 2017. We do not guarantee
accuracy of the information for undisclosed deals, please use the information with discretion.

If you have any questions or requests pertaining to the list, please contact us at:

Bobby Liu Cong Tran Nhat Bui Quang Mai Duy

bobbyliu@topica.asia congtm@topica.asia nhatbd@topica.asia quangmd@topica.asia

Special thanks to our colleagues and friends who helped collect, research, and validate the information.

Compiled by Topica Founder Institute

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