Vietnam Innovative Startups Accelerator (VIISA) commemorates one and a half years in action as well as the graduation of the Acceleration Program Batch 3 with the 3rd Investment Day on July 3rd, 2018. Held at the Atrium Lounge in Renaissance Riverside Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, the event comprised of 6 startup pitches, drawing the attendance of over 100 investors, corporate partners, and mentors.
Investment Day is an opportunity for startup community to meet up, discuss and seek opportunities to call from leading regional investors. The 3 best startups in the Acceleration Program Batch 3 in various fields such as smart farming, digital, software services, etc had a presentation on products and strategies to the investors in and outside the country to call for investment. Promising teams will also get up to $200,000 in further investment funding.
Over the last three months, the startups from Acceleration Program Batch 3 were invested US$15.000 cash and undisclosed amount of in-kind services, heavily involved in various activities, ranging from one-on-one sessions with seasonal investors, to dedicated workshops with experts in growth hacking, data analytics, and storytelling, including but not limited to mentors and partners from Vietnam and beyond. In addition, the startups each company were provided technical resources, office accommodation and accessed to world-class mentors and suitable investors. Investment Day is a chance for startups to demonstrate the skills they have been trained and to call for investment.
"I've learned a lot from VIISA, such as methods of generating my ideas and innovations, finding the right customer, identifying and tracking the key metrics which are suitable for my business model, the most important thing is how to craft a compelling elevator pitch or story about what we are doing. VIISA for me really like a family and always accompanied UrBox. I am truly impressed by VIISA mentors and team members. I'm looking forward for the opportunity to continue working with VIISA in the next phase." - Hieu Truong, CEO of UrBox
This Investment Day also witnessed the attendance and presentation of 3 portfolio companies from VIISA’s previous Batches, that already raised over US$800,000 in their previous rounds. The teams return to this Investment Day with the expectations of closing their upcoming round, in order to take their businesses to the regional and global stage. Among which, WisePass already expanded outside Vietnam, operating in 4 cities (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Bangkok, and Manila; targeting Jakarta next); they have also closed some significant partnerships with prominent partners such as Marriott Group, CGV, Starbucks, and Citibank. Another company, CyHome, has developed partnerships with over 40 apartment complexes across Vietnam, serving over 2000 living units, and recently expanding their service platforms to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
“VIISA Investment Day left me with two impressions. The first is about the quality of the startups. I saw these founders making their pitches in Internal Demo Day, and today it's amazing to see your pitching skills and quality have improved dramatically. The second is the investor community, VIISA has invited a large number of investors, both domestic and international, to attend the program. I know VIISA from the beginning, in two years the program has had success stories such as WeFit and WisePass. I believe that the startups in Batch 3, and in the next batches will continue to write success stories.” - Ms. Ha Thanh An, CEO of Startup Viet Partners
“Few people would have believed we reached this stage in such a short time span. Our top 5 companies have seen 10x growth in sales, built up a network of 1300 business partners in 3 countries, and have over 10k active users a month. Wonderful results!” - Mr. Le Hoang Anh, Chairman of VIISA and Managing Partner of Dragon Capital Group
Mr. Tran Huu Duc, CEO of VIISA, concludes the event by setting out the challenge for VIISA moving forward:
"Through 3 batches, we have found many talented founders and creative ideas. With the support from VIISA, the startups have had to undergo rigorous assignments, looking for ways to implement KPIs in 3 months to be present here on Investment Day! In the future, VIISA is committed to working together with the development of startups to help them achieve the best results in their business journey."
Also in Investment Day, VIISA officially called for startups to participate in the Accelerator Program Batch 4 at VIISA at the website www.viisa.vn starting July 6, 2018. VIISA Accelerator Program Batch 4 is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2018.
6 startups included:
- URBOX - Developing privileges program across all lifestyle angles digitally via platform of e-vouchers and loyalty.
- SMARTMEAL - Meal-plan delivery service that focuses on making healthy-eating easy and more accessible in Vietnam.
- AQUAGROWGREENS - easy-to-grow micro-greens kit that turns anyone into a gardener.
- CYFEER - Changing the way people live by developing e-solutions for apartment and building management.
- WEFIT - Connecting you with more than 500 gyms and fitness classes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City via their monthly subscription plan.
- WISEPASS - Lifestyle membership platform that lets subscribers enjoy free perks such as a free cup of coffee, lunch, dinner or bottle of wine or spirits.