Letter from the Partners

It’s not news that the year has started with the economy and financial markets facing some significant challenges, both globally and in Vietnam. The collapse of SVB has affected the VC ecosystem around the world while slower economic growth has caused investors to put off planned investments. There’s been no shortage of troubling news.

All of that said, we continue to be optimistic about the medium and long-term outlooks for Vietnam and venture investing.

When we look around, we see founders tackling challenges heads-on, executing pivots when necessary, and making critical decisions to balance cash, growth, product, and team. Three of our portco startups in healthcare, edtech and EV successfully raised the next funding. Meanwhile, we have closed two new investments, both in the pursuit of helping Vietnamese have smarter, greener and more beautiful home space (More on that later).

Through our monthly coffee chats, we also see founders supporting each other, and sharing resources and tips when possible.

And equally important, with continued interest from foreign investors and regulators taking actions to boost economic growth, inclusivity, better quality of life and building towards a green economy, our vision, which is anchored to the long-term prospects of Vietnam, is as valid as ever. As more uncertainties are happening, it's more important than ever to anchor economic growth with inclusivity and sustainability. We participated in selected working groups with regulatory stakeholders in Vietnam and foreign investors to build a stronger and more resilient ecosystem for technology startups in Vietnam.

We’re proud that Touchstone was recognized as one of the most active investors in Vietnam in the first quarter of 2023, and our momentum has continued into the second quarter. As some venture capital firms seem to have put the brakes on potential investments, we’ve continued to move ahead and participate in the further building out of Vietnam’s tech ecosystem. Hard times are usually when the most passionate, strappy and creative founding teams are born. So we are hard at work, identifying and mentoring more of them.

If you’re a founder (or know one) who is building a great solution for Vietnam and who would benefit from our team’s local expertise and global network, drop us a note at hello@touchstone.vc!

— Khanh Tran & Tu Ngo

Portfolio Updates

Selex Motors secured $3M from ADB Ventures

The investment is a convertible note round with participation from ADB Ventures, Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia, Touchstone Partners, and Sopoong Ventures.

• Selex is a first of its kind to develop from scratch an optimal electric ecosystem for last-mile transportation to reduce operation costs and impact the logistics industry.

• With the fund, Selex will expand its two-wheeler production lines and set up battery-swapping systems in key cities in Vietnam, aiming to become the nation’s largest battery-swapping network provider.

• Selex holds a significant intellectual property portfolio, which includes 10 patents and four trademarks born out of its in-house R&D facility.

Medigo secured $2M in new funding

The round is led by East Ventures with participation from Pavilion Capital and our team at Touchstone Partners.

• It's been a remarkable journey for Medigo's CEO and co-founder, Ha Le, who started developing the idea for Medigo after he had trouble finding fever reducers for his daughter in the middle of the night.

• Over the last three years, Medigo has grown to 500,000 active users by providing 24/7 one-demand prescription delivery services.

• With the added capital, Medigo plans to strengthen its services and develop a healthcare ecosystem in Vietnam.

Prep raised US$ 1M

The round is co-led by East Ventures and Cercano Management (former Vulcan Capital)

• Tu Pham is an English teacher & business manager with almost a decade of experience in teaching English, teaching more than 5,000 students.

• Since its launch, Prep has rapidly grown, attracting more than 100,000 users across all provinces and cities in Vietnam, and regional markets.

• In 2023, Prep is aiming to expand its user base to half a million and to have other standardized language test preparation offerings, such as Japanese (JLPT), Chinese (HSK) and Korean (TOPIK).

In The News

Touchstone Partners actively looking for startups in hardware, deeptech, and climate change mitigation

📝 “While Touchstone focuses on early-stage startups and is sector-agnostic, we will be more actively looking for startups in hardware, deep tech and the climate change mitigation space,” shared Tu Ngo, the firm’s General Partner.

👉🏻 Read more at: https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/touchstone-eyes-deep-tech-targets-340301

Highlighted as one of the most active VCs in Vietnam

📝 “All tech funding activity in Q1 2023 happened in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, with the most active investors in that quarter being Touchstone Partners, Resolution Ventures, and UOB.”

👉🏻 Read more at: https://www.techinasia.com/vietnams-startup-funding-slows-plummets-49-q1

Big News To Share

Participated in several government events

Our Managing Partner, Khanh Tran, participated in a roundtable discussion on the development policies of HCMC hosted by the National Assembly Deputies’ Delegation, in which he emphasized the need for clearer and non-overlapping pilot policies to reduce the need for legal consultation when investing in Vietnam

Our EIR Director, Bobby Liu, spoke at the International Conference Of Industrial Development, hosted by the Department of Industry and Trade of HCMC where he shared about solutions for sustainable industrial development from our portfolio companies and how we're working towards a sustainable economic development path for Vietnam

Launched Touchstone Coffee Chat Series

Since February 2023, we have been hosting a monthly Coffee Chat event designed for current or future startup founders in Vietnam who want to have a chat about their ideas and meet up with like-minded innovators.

Each of our events includes (1) Workshops or panel discussions about certain topic areas that benefit startup founders, (2) One-on-one chats with our investment team for those who want to pitch or get feedback on their idea, (3) Networking sessions with the Touchstone team & fellow founders.

Funny moments from our Coffee Chat 2, where Ha Le (CEO of Medigo) come and shared with us his wonderful startup journey & the struggles around fundraising.

Touchstone Coffee Chat 3: “The Hard Things About Hardware”, featuring CEO of Selex, Nguyen Nguyen

Last but not least

We worked hard, played hard, and had a lot of fun along the way!