After Singapore and Malaysia, Alpha JWC Ventures is now expanding its coverage in Southeast Asia to Vietnam for the first time by investing US$1.3 million pre-A round in Hanoi-based SaaS platform Base.vn.
The startup raised an undisclosed amount Seed round from 500 Startups and Vietnam Innovative Startup Accelerator in August of this year with an aim to build a centralised online workspace consisting of various apps to help equip enterprises with cutting-edge technologies.
Alpha JWA said in a press statement that the fresh funding of US$1.3 million is the biggest funding ever raised by a B2B tech company in Vietnam. Joined with Alpha JWC Ventures for this investment is Beenext, a Singapore-based venture capital specialises in seed and Series A.
“Base’s mission is to build the future of work. We are just started and there are so many interesting things ahead. We imagine in the next five years, enterprises will operate and manage effectively using the best technology, and we want to bring that transformative future for everyone now,” Hung Pham, Co-Founder and CEO of Base.vn, said in a statement.
To date, Base.vn has developed over 20 applications in two verticals including human resources and productivity. The well-known ones include Base E-Hiring as an Applicant Tracking System; Base Wework as a Task & Project Management Platform, and Base Request as an Internal Request Management.
Some of its clients in Vietnam include VIB Bank, VP Bank, McDonald’s, MK Group, The Coffee House among others.
Alpha JWC is confident with their investment in Base.vn, citing the company’s position as a market leader for SaaS industry in Vietnam and its founder Hung’s strong technical and serial entrepreneur background. “B2B is a tricky sector, and Base has proven its capability in tackling challenges to win the market, from creating a comprehensive yet easy to use, to convincing and maintaining enterprises client. In addition, the CEO, Hung Pham is the exceptional founder, who is a strong founder which I have no reason not to back,” said Chandra Tjan, Managing Partner of Alpha JWC to KrASIA.
As a value-adding venture capital firm with deep expertise in fintech and sustainable consumer sector, Alpha JWC Ventures’ portfolio consists of various big names like Wework, Uang Teman, Sale Stock, Kredivo, and so forth. The firm recently launched its US$100-million second fund and have invested in 5 new companies since then.
Following their first funding in Vietnam, Alpha JWC Ventures is looking forward to work with more local companies in the near future. “We believe that Vietnam has a big potential to be the next force in Southeast Asia’s tech industry, and in character, we see that Vietnam’s startup climate is quite similar to Indonesia. After Base, we have been approached by many Vietnamese startups, so we’re excited to see what’s next,” Tjan concluded.
Base.vn will use the new funding to acquire more talents for product development and build a solid pedestal for our strategic expansion in Southeast Asia in mid-2019.
(21:45, December 12, 2018, We have updated the article in the seventh and the ninth paragraphs to include Chandra Tjan’s response to our request for comments.)
Editor: Ben Jiang