Hanoi (VNA) – Lotte Accelerator Corporation, an accelerator andventure capital firm under Lotte Group from the Republic of Korea (RoK), willpour at least 1 million USD into Vietnamese startups in the first five years.

The money will be channeled through an alliance with Vietnam Silicon ValleyAccelerator (VSVA), which was established based on the Vietnam Silicon Valley(VSV) project.

The RoK venture fund and the VSVA inked strategic cooperation agreement lastweekend to set up the first venture investment fund designed for startups inVietnam. The move is expected to serve as a catalyst for the venture investmentmarket in the country.
 
Lotte Accelerator’s capital will be prioritised for retail, information andtechnology (IT) and trade.

Lotte Accelerator and the VSVA will discuss before making investment decision,said Jin Sung Rhee, CEO of Lotte Accelerator.

Along with pumping in capital, the RoK venture fund also plans to organiseshort-term training sources for Vietnamese startups in the RoK, he noted, giventhat his country has thorough understanding of startup ecosystem.

“Vietnam is one of the fastest stably growing economies in the world whereLotte Group has established a strong footprint in various sectors, from realestate, retail, distribution, to commerce and IT. It is a big market andstartups are potential. That is why we want to invest in,” he said.

Before joining hands with Lotte Accelerator, the VSV trained and offeredinvestment support to over 50 Vietnamese startups.

According to Tran Van Tung, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology,strategic collaboration between the two accelerators is a considerable stridefor business accelerator models.

The VSV project, the Government’s first project to endorse startups, wasintroduced in 2013 when international venture funds set foot in Vietnam and thecountry was housing a system of incubators; however, startups’ access to thefunds was limited, Tung underlined.

He noticed that seeing the benefits that startups and innovation bring tosocio-economic development, the ministry supported the implementation ofBusiness Accelerate models and the VSVA has been carried out since 2014 withsignificant achievements.

The VSVA has incubated 50 companies, several of which attracted next rounds offunding from regional venture capital firms.

Thach Le Anh, VSV Founder, said that success of a startup depends not only oninvestors but also mentors who helps the new firm approach the investors.

The VSV pays due attention to cooperation with foreign partners to seek marketand learn experience, she added.-VNA