Vietnam Innovative Startups Accelerator (VIISA) – a business acceleration program and a seed-stage investment holding that invests to build global-ready startups in Vietnam – just announced the completion of the sixth batch of its 4-month acceleration program with its “Investment Day”.
Hieu Vo, Board Member and CFO at VIISA, said: “Batch 6 is special because it marks the third anniversary of VIISA as a company. We started with high expectations in terms of program quality improvement as well as creating more value added for founders. That means the program is getting tougher and more demanding for participants and operators too. Apart from very intuitive selection criteria that all applying startups have to go through, the program has introduced a new development measurement method which helps us to capture the progress of startups that are accepted into VIISA. The KPI setting sessions at beginning of Batch 6 laid the foundations of more harmonised rating metrics on both business performance as well as personal transformation of founders. I think this process will bring out the best in each person for the particular business they have founded and committed to. Of course, we could never have achieved this progress without the amazing team at VIISA as well as the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs) team, mentors, and our respected partners. I am proud of how all the startup teams have overcome the challenges leading up to today.”
During the first part of the Investment Day, VIISA showcased their portfolio and alumni startups via a keynote speech from management representative of Base.vn, a portfolio investee of VIISA and the two fund-raising pitches from alumni startups. A practical yet inspiring presentation on technology application on business management was shared with various stories from Base.vn themselves.
Moreover, CEO Phong Pham from CyHome, a Batch 2 alumnus, brought excitement to the audience again with his great passion for new progress in business development since graduating from VIISA. Not only is their Hanoi market booming with several leading property development corporate contracts, but also their key partnership with VNG for a core product development.
Last but not least, Khoa Do, CEO of Ella Study, also a Batch 2 alumnus, flew all the way from Hanoi for just a day to share with VIISA’s guests their impressive movement and traction. Ella has pivoted to be an educational organization, providing orientation, overseas study and career mentorship services to students. All these services are provided through an omni learning experience (online & offline) by connecting with insightful peer-group alumni and mentors.
Over the last 18 months, Ella has assisted 180+ students to study abroad – nearly 50% of whom got offer letters from the top 4% of universities worldwide. Ella also supported more than 1,500 students in career mentorship & training, with another brand named Markus School. Another service named Ella Uni has supported 28+ universities to recruit more than 400 students in just 20 months.
After the session from portfolio and alumni startups, the four graduating startups from VIISA took the stage. Founders of these four companies have reaped the benefits of 10 management and business development training sessions, more than 12 experts and over 250 working hours with VIISA in 12 weeks. They all have received seed funding from VIISA in cash and enjoyed VIISA partners’ world class services such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Payoo, MoonLab Co-working space, etc. The promising startups will be able to get follow-on funding of up to $200,000 from VIISA when they secure a new round of funding from other investors.
VIISA is looking to launch its Batch 7 of Acceleration Program in the first quarter of 2020.