7 Women VC Warriors to Watch in Vietnam

It’s been 10+ years since the launch of Vietnam’s first VC funds (IDG Ventures Vietnam, DFJ VinaCapital, CyberAgent Vietnam). Those funds have at least two things in common. One, they invested tens of millions of dollars ($150M combined) into Vietnamese startups when the rest of the world didn’t believe, and now many of those startups are the bedrocks of Vietnam’s tech industry. Two, the lead investors were mostly men.

Startup investment activity is becoming increasingly active and sophisticated once again. But this time, there are many women among those leading the charge, and I've been lucky to have had a front row seat to this in the past few years.

I highlight 7 of those women here, based on deals closed recently and/or estimated deals going forward, plus their startup community involvement. They’re listed in first-name alphabetical order (because how can anybody rank-order these awesome folks?). No more excuses for all-male investing panels in Vietnam!

THE AMBASSADOR: AN HA-THANH

Managing Director, Startup Viet Investment & Development Company (“Startup Viet”)

Since October 2017, An has led Startup Viet, an investment & advisory company owned by several notable Vietnamese corporate leaders and policymakers. Startup Viet works with idea-stage and seed-stage Vietnamese startups. They have 3 portfolio companies (undisclosed). An was born and educated in Danang and then spent time with the local Department of Foreign Affairs. She then got a master’s degree from the University of Bristol and then co-founded an IT services company in the UK before returning to Vietnam to continue her work in tech. She’s one of the main organizers of the upcoming Viet Startup Day 2018 organized in Saigon.

THE NINJA: HAU LY

Investment Manager, 500 Startups Vietnam

Hau is the most senior non-GP with 500 Startups Vietnam, the Vietnam-focused fund of the global VC firm 500 Startups. Hau was born and educated in Hanoi. After graduating, she worked across business support, market research, and digital marketing functions at an entrepreneurship center, microfinance institution, and several startups in the U.S., Germany, and Vietnam. With 500, she is focused on both investment and fund operations, and has closed more investments in the past year than anyone else on this list, most recently enterprise startup Base Platform. This month marked her 2nd anniversary with the team, and I couldn’t be happier with her work. (No poaching!)

THE BANKER: LANA DUONG

Vice President, Openspace Ventures

Since 2016, Lana has covered Vietnam for Singapore-based Openspace Ventures(previously known as NSI Ventures), which just announced the close of their $130M second fund. Born and raised in Hanoi, she has a power-packed CV: degrees from the National University of Singapore and London School of Economics, and work stints at Lazard, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Temasek. She is an Alternate Board Member for Openspace’s Vietnam portfolio company, Topica Edtech Group, and is actively hunting for Openspace’s next Series A or Series B investment. For her potential, Forbes Vietnam recognized her on its 30 Under 30 List this year.

THE SHARK: LINH THAI (no relation to me)

Operations and Strategy Director, VinaCapital

Now a local celebrity known as “Shark Linh” (as a judge on Shark Tank Vietnam – the only woman of the permanent cast besides the MC), she wasn’t always in the spotlight. But spotlight or no, she’s always been a sharp, get-shit-done, tell-it-like-it-is woman. Recent musings from her include things like “In your twenties, young people should not think of work-life balance, you should think about work only!” and “Young people shouldn’t think about leaving work before 7PM”.  A Wharton MBA and a Bank of America investment banking alum, she simultaneously serves in the leadership of VinaCapital, runs a fashion startup (Rita Phil), and spends time with Shark Tank Vietnam.

THE HUMANITARIAN: SHUYIN TANG

Partner, Patamar Capital (formerly known as Unitus Impact)

Shuyin is based in Vietnam but covers all of Southeast Asia for the social impact fund Patamar, where she was recently promoted to Partner. Her Vietnam investments include ecommerce startup iCareBenefits, edtech startup Topica, fintech startup TrustCircle (acquired), and household services startup Jupviec. She is the only non-Vietnamese woman on this list: Chinese-Australian, she studied at Australian National University and spent several years in consulting (Bain; Technoserve) before moving to Vietnam in 2013. She was named one of Australia’s “100 Women of Influence” by the Australian Financial Review in 2015 and an Asia 21 Young Leader by the Asia Society in 2016.

THE SISTER: TRANG DINH

Investment Director, SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund

Trang helped establish one of the first woman-focused funds for Vietnam. (Though, to note, SEAF’s fund is not focused only on Vietnam). Unlike others on this list, her fund’s investment thesis is not exclusively tech; her first deal, announced earlier this year, is an OB/GYN healthcare facility in southern Vietnam – Phuong Chau JSC. Trang was raised in Saigon but spent substantial time in the UK (studying at Cass and working at Man GLG & Goldman Sachs) before returning to Vietnam in 2010.  Since then, she’s worked as an investment officer with VinaCapital and as head of corporate development for Thien Minh Group (“the largest integrated and privately-owned travel and hospitality group based in Vietnam”).

THE OPERATOR: VY LE

General Partner, ESP Capital

Vy is the newest investor on this list, having just joined ESP Capital in April of this year. She’s been involved in different businesses since the age of 13, most recently as founder of ecommerce startup Chon.vn and then acting CEO of the acquirer, ADayRoi. Her work on her fashion ecommerce startup Chon.vn was a key driver of my confidence in Vietnam’s startup ecosystem before I made the plunge myself. Before Chon.vn, she was CEO of a 4-location restaurant chain. She earned her bachelor’s from Georgetown University with a 4.0 GPA. ESP’s investments under Vy’s watch include deals website JAMJA and video & livestream cloud API startup Uiza.

Bonus #1: some other women VC warriors to watch (because there are more than 7, but I can't write about them all)

• Annie Vu, Associate, Sun SEA Capital
• HuiWoon Tan, Founder & Managing Partner, Alley 51 Ventures
• Kelly Tran, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, VIISA
• Nguyen Pham, Founder, 5Desire
• Thach Le Anh, Founder, Vietnam Silicon Valley
• Yen Do, Associate, Patamar Capital

Bonus #2: how I met each of these warriors (since I'm proud of how our stories have intertwined over the years.)

How An and I met: immediately before Startup Viet, An was co-founder & CEO of AntBuddy, a cohesive customer service solution. She impressed me at a Tech In Asia startup pitch competition (where I was a judge) in February 2016. Alas, I had to decline investing because I didn’t think she owned enough of the company.

How Hau and I met: she was my first local hire with 500 Startups Vietnam. In a job post in which I was looking for a “Sidekick? Co-pilot? Playmaker? Right-hand ninja?”, for which I got almost 100 applications in 3 days, she beat out all of the others.

How Lana and I met: in late 2015, just a few months after Binh and I officially joined 500 Startups, we took a trip to Singapore to begin evangelizing about the Vietnam startup scene. One of our events was a casual dinner with members of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. Lana joined the dinner -- at the time she was thinking about going into VC. She started at Openspace a few months later.

How Linh and I met: Linh gave me my first real-world taste of venture capital when I was a summer associate with VinaCapital, bringing me on to help out with a deal at DFJ. She later referred me to her husband’s employer for a strategy and M&A role – my first full-time job in Vietnam.

How Shuyin and I met: in 2014, at a Harvard alumni event I co-hosted – the same event where I met the woman who is now my wife. If you ask Shuyin, she’ll tell you that I never give her credit for initiating the post-event dinner where I got to know my future wife. Well, here you go =P

How Trang and I met: in summer 2011, when Trang was a senior investment officer at VinaCapital and I was a summer associate. She went on to her next role not long after, but I’ve kept an eye on her & her husband’s movements (Erik also being a major player in the Vietnam startup scene).

How Vy and I met: In mid-2013, I was recruited to join the steering committee of UNICEF Next Generation Vietnam – for which Vy was chair. I later helped prep her for her Chon.vn investor conversations (the company was acquired within a few months), and provided advisory in her post-acquisition role as CEO of ADayRoi, a leading ecommerce company in Vietnam.