Vietnam-based IT conglomerate FPT Corporation has launched a corporate venturing fund to invest in local startups at seed and series A stage, Dealstreetasia.com has reported.
FPT Ventures will partner with US-based incubator and venture capital firm 500 Startups to establish an incubator platform for Vietnam-based companies.
E-commerce, advertising, healthcare and education technology startups will receive about $50,000 on top of ‘technical and management expertise,’ and only companies with valuations of less than $1m will be considered.
FPT has raised $1m for the fund and will invest a further $1m as long as it can secure additional partners for the project to invest the last $1m.
Nguyen Lam Phuong, FPT Corporation’s chief technology officer, said, “According to our calculations, Vietnam has so far created a thousand tech startups. This is a modest figure, considering a very young population in Vietnam. So we do hope to grow the number.”