Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Investment in Vietnam-based start-ups grew sharply in 2019,according to Singapore-headquartered venture capital firm Cento Ventures.

In the report ‘Southeast Asia Tech Investment in 2019’ released early thismonth, Cento Ventures pointed out that investment in Vietnam-based start-upsincreased most in the region, worth 741 million USD, making up 18 percent ofthe country-specific capital deployment, a huge jump over 2018 where it onlyaccounted for 4 percent, or 284 million USD.

Vietnam accounted for a much larger share of capital invested as it producedmore late-stage companies such as Tiki, VNPay and Sendo.

For the first time, investment into Vietnamese start-ups exceeded Singaporewhich accounted for 18 per cent of the capital invested into the region.

The number of deals also increased significantly in Vietnam. The reportrevealed that there were 90 deals last year, growing from just 50 in 2018.

The report also reported changes in the landscape of technology investment inSoutheast Asia last year.

The total amount invested in tech companies in the region was worth 7.7billion USD, lower than the 12 billion USD recorded in 2018.

However, while there were fewer mega-deals, there was a significant increase insmaller venture capital deals. The total amount invested in smaller deals (lessthan 50 million USD invested) set a new record of 2.4 billion USD, up from 1.5billion USD in 2018. In comparison, the amount poured in deals worth more than 50million USD was 5.3 billion USD in 2019, from 10.5 billion USD in 2018.

Indonesia continued to capture the majority of capital invested in SoutheastAsia, despite capturing a smaller proportion of the total capital invested,falling from 76 percent in 2018 to 59 percent in 2019.

The report pointed out that there was some change to the previous bias ofinvestment toward start-ups based in Indonesia and Singapore, with 2019 showinggreater geographical diversification in capital deployed as Vietnam and Thailandrose to be attractive destinations.

According to the report, while most investment in the region continued to beinto diverse digital businesses such as Grab and Gojek and online retailers,2019 showed some diversification by sector. Interest in emerging sectors suchas financial services and payment grew strongly, which when combined receivednearly 1 billion USD in new capital. Newer sectors such as healthcare,logistics and education also benefited from increasing investor interest.

“Looking ahead to 2020 we expect these positive trends to continue as thefundamentals of the region remain positive – a large and rapidly digitisingpopulation that demands better online services, combined with many industrysectors adopting new technology to transform their operations,” the reportsaid./.