👁👄👁; Handling hot deals; VR world; #BlackLivesMatter & More
Your monthly newsletter on Vietnamese in tech
Hi! Welcome to issue No.2 of Accelerate Vietnam. 👋
Summer has come, finally! Life in Vietnam has returned to normal: schools reopen; workers return to office; domestic travels resume. Yet, it's still early to say that we have completely recovered from the pandemic.
By the way, have you noticed the weird emojis I put in the headline? 👁👄👁 It's Twitter's latest hype with a whole story behind. If you're curious about the story, check it out here: 👁👄👁.fm/statement.
Now, enjoy this month's newsletter!
Insights
Michael H. Lints: "I am exhausted and want you to know why."
In this issue, I want to make an exception and give the spotlight to Michael, a non-Vietnamese investor, along with his powerful piece on #BlackLivesMatter. ✊🏿 Michael is an investor at Golden Gate Ventures, a Singapore-based VC firm investing across Southeast Asia (including Vietnam).
Indeed, diversity & inclusion is an overlooked topic in Southeast Asia – It's time for us to talk about it.
From The Maker
Learnings from the team at Cho Tot on running a planning session efficiently. Phat Vo / Cho Tot
E-commerce platforms often use hot deals to attract traffic, but it would put massive pressure on the systems. Here's Tiki's take on handling hot deals. 🔥 Nghia Le / Tiki
What is missing in VR? It's Scent. Quang Nguyen / Aromajoin
From The Investor
COVID has radically affected tourism. Here are some predictions and advice on how Vietnam’s travel startups can keep in step with global trends. 🏖️ Dung Hoang / Genesia Ventures
Qualgro is focusing more on Vietnam in 2020 and 2021, especially in B2C sectors. Here's why. Wanying Zhang / Qualgro Partners
Actionable insights on how to raise VC funding as a student entrepreneur. Binh Tran / 500 Startups Vietnam & Michael H. Lints / Golden Gate Ventures
Overheard on Twitter: How to write cold emails to VCs
Venture Capital Deals
Sendo is rumoured to be raising a Series D.
Propzy, an offline-to-online real estate platform, raises $25 million Series A led by Gaw Capital and SoftBank Ventures Asia.
Tiki reportedly raises US$130M in funding led by Northstar Group.
Vietnam's F88 raises US$6M from Mekong Capital and Granite Oak to expand its lending platform.
Trending in Vietnam Tech
Be and FastGo are in talks for a merger to break the dominance of Grab in Vietnam.
Korea’s largest food delivery service Baemin launches in Vietnam.
Vietnamese startup Loship continues its journey by disrupting the country’s wholesale supply market.
Cryptocurrency investment is not legally recognized in Vietnam.
Vietnam sees surge in popularity of contactless payments.
Opportunities
– Cocoon Capital launches Female Founders Mentoring Hours in Southeast Asia. Apply by July 10. 👩
– Google for Startups Accelerator is looking for Seed & Series A startups in Southeast Asia.
– VIISA Acceleration Program Batch 8 is open for applications; Startup Viet 2020 is open for nominations.
– 500 Kobe Accelerator Batch 5 is open for applications. It's a fully virtual program designed for tech-enabled startups addressing COVID related issues and is open to both Japanese and international companies.
– Venture Deals, a free online course on startup financing, reopens. It is taught by renowned venture capitalists Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. I’ve taken this course before and highly recommend it to any entrepreneurs.
– Y Combinator Startup School is a free online program for founders actively pursuing their own startup. I am taking the course myself and have to say that the content is top-notch. YC Winter 2021 Batch is also open for applications now. 🚀
– Crypto Startup School by a16z details what’s different about building in crypto
– The Harvard Business School Class of 2022 has started a Mentorship Directory to extend their networks to underrepresented groups. Check it out if you want to receive advice from product managers at Uber, Microsoft, Google, and more.
– Included VC - a fellowship aimed at increasing diversity in the industry - is recruiting for its second cohort, with the aim of training 40 people to work in VC.
Upcoming Events
🗓️July 2 (online)
HR strategies in the digital world
🗓️July 3 (HCMC)
Meet the podcasters 🎙️
🗓️July 9 (online)
Product Hunt Maker Summit
🗓️September 14-18 (online)
TechCrunch Disrupt 2020
🗓️September 15 (HCMC)
Under 30 Summit 2020 - Imagineering The Future
More things I consumed this month
Read 📰 Mapping The Future of Work ecosystem. The hierarchy of marketplaces. What is good retention?
Listen 🎧 Kuaishou: The Anti-Douyin/TikTok? by Techbuzz China; Moving to Remote Development (and Work) by a16z
Watch 📺Social media dangers exposed by mom posing as 11-year-old; Growth for Startups by Gustaf Alströmer (YC, Airbnb)
Try out: Find newsletters to subscribe to with NewsletterStack.
Thank you for being part of Accelerate Vietnam this month. 👋
If you are a Vietnamese investor, founder or startup operator, I'd love to feature your content. If you come across a blog post that you think I should feature, please let me know via the same link.
Comments, questions, tips? Send me a direct note.
Curated by Amy (Trang) Nguyen, pre-seed investor at Wave Ventures. Born in Ho Chi Minh City. Based in Helsinki. You can find me elsewhere on LinkedIn, Medium, and Twitter.