TECH STARTUPS RAISED $120 MILLION IN 2024

Vietnamese tech startups raised $120 million in funding last year, representing a 38 per cent decline from the $196 million secured in 2023.

According to the Vietnam Tech Annual Report 2024 released by Tracxn on January 28, late-stage investments saw funding of $14.2 million in 2024, resuming activity after 2021. Meanwhile, seed-stage investments dropped by 32.4 per cent, falling to $11.7 million in 2024 from $17.3 million in 2023. Early-stage funding experienced a 47.3 per cent decline, totalling $94.4 million in 2024, down from $179 million in 2023.

Last year's top-performing sectors included the gig economy, auto tech, and transportation and logistics tech. The gig economy, which includes companies with independent workers pursuing freelance, part-time, or flexible arrangements, such as Grab, Lazada, or Upwork, saw a total funding of $38.2 million in 2024, representing an increase of over 3,700 per cent when compared to the $1 million raised in 2023, and a rise of 380 per cent when compared to the $7.9 million raised in 2022.

The auto tech sector saw funding of $35.3 million last year, compared to $3 million raised in 2023, an on-year increase of 1078 per cent, while the figure represented an increase of 116 per cent when compared to the $16.4 million seen in 2022. Technology for the transportation and logistics sector saw funding of $34.3 million in 2024, an increase of 1,045 per cent when compared to $3 million raised in 2023, and a rise of 58 per cent when compared to $21.8 million raised in 2022.

The report pointed out that Ho Chi Minh City-based tech firms accounted for 56.6 per cent of all funding raised by Vietnamese tech companies. Hanoi followed behind, contributing 26.25 per cent of the total funding.

CyberAgent Capital, 500 Global, and Genesia Ventures emerged as the top investors in the Vietnamese tech ecosystem, actively supporting startups across various stages.

The Vietnamese tech ecosystem recorded three acquisitions last year, down from four in 2023. The 2024 deals were Public Bank's acquisition of RHB Vietnam Securities, Nvidia's acquisition of VinBrain, and SCBX's acquisition of Home Credit Vietnam.

Source: VIR