Venture capital firm (VC) Golden Gate Ventures has just released a report stating that by the end of this decade more startups in Southeast Asia will emerge, with the number of Annual initial public offerings (IPOs) in this region are expected to surpass 300 by 2030.

Vietnam - 'Rising Star' in Southeast Asia's Startup

The report assesses Vietnam as a "rising star" in the region and will become the country with the third largest startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia by 2022, with many venture capital funds committing to invest early stage investments in startups.

The number of IPO companies will almost triple the number of regional companies that have listed shares in 2020. Some companies are likely to list, such as online buying and selling company Carousell, the real estate platform PropertyGuru and Traveloka travel company. Golden Gate Ventures predicts that investment capital in the entertainment and media sectors will increase significantly this decade.

According to a report by Golden Gate Ventures, about $100 million has been invested in this sector in 2020, this number is likely to increase as entertainment and media startups focus on “Asia content" is attracting global attention.

Golden Gate Ventures also commented on some of the trends that have been observed in Southeast Asia over the years. Since 2015, a new generation of entrepreneurs has emerged, backed by massive funding rounds by fast-growing startups like Grab and Gojek. Former senior employees of high-growth companies have gone on to start their own businesses, starting a new chain of startups.

In addition, many venture capital firms emerged in the past decade. Accordingly, there are about 60 venture capital firms appearing in the region in 2020, compared with just 7 companies 10 years ago.

The legal environment for the development of the national innovation startup ecosystem has basically been formed, creating conditions for the elements of the technology market to develop, especially at the following stages: the establishment of an intermediary organization, valuing intellectual property, assigning ownership of S&T results to the presiding agency, distributing benefits after commercialization.

The project "Supporting the innovation startup ecosystem until 2025" continues to be effectively implemented, contributing to step by step building a sustainable and developed startup ecosystem. Up to now, 53 localities have issued plans to implement the project, selecting 58 leading units and 44 coordinating units with capacity and experiences in implementing 82 tasks of the project across the country.

The national innovative startup portal has operated effectively with nearly 2 million visits and 1,500 data information about the startup ecosystem. There are 13 provinces and cities that build and operate local innovative startup portals.

Despite facing the COVID-19 epidemic, Vietnam's innovative startup ecosystem still has positive growth signals. In 2020, the total investment value for startups is estimated at more than 310 million USD. Vietnam also recorded the appearance of the second unicorn startup, VNPAY Solutions Joint Stock Company valued at more than 1 billion USD and about 10 startups valued at over 100 million USD.

Vietnam is also one of the few countries that can still organize Techfest 2020 on a large scale, attracting the attendance of more than 6,500 direct attendees and over 50,000 attendees online at more than 40 workshops, conferences, and seminars; The participation of more than 150 domestic and foreign investors and investment funds with committed investment deals has reached more than 14 million USD.

Vietnam's startup ecosystem is ranked 59th in the world (according to Startup Blink in 2020), in the Asia-Pacific region alone, Vietnam's innovative startup ecosystem is in the top of 20-25 ecosystems.

Also in 2020, Vietnam continues to maintain the position of 42/131 countries and territories on the Global Innovation Index and is considered a model of other developing countries in establishing innovation as a national priority.

ctngoc