Nguyen Hoa Binh, founder cum chairman of NextTech, who claim to be 'the start-up soulmate', officially joined Shark Tank Season 3, seeking investment opportunities for NextTech’s new start-up fund Next100.

Binh will provide a second opportunity for start-ups who have yet to find investment in Shark Tank Viet Nam.

Next100 will provide training programmes and mentorship for up to 100 tech start-ups.

“The company wishes to provide resources and contribute to Viet Nam’s start-up ecosystem, boosting its competitiveness in the region. We emphasise the need to support start-ups at the early stage, therefore, we position ourselves as a 'soulmate' to help these start-up founders to achieve their targets in the shortest time with optimal cost,” Binh said.

It is estimated Viet Nam has about 1,000 technology start-up projects every year, but nearly 92 per cent of those fail in the first three years, mostly because they can't find the right markets and lack a supporting ecosystem.

Understanding start-ups’ difficulties, the Next100 fund of US$10 million combines venture builder, ecosystem and venture capital to support start-ups.

The goal of the fund is to collaborate with many entrepreneurs to find a long-term and sustainable growth formula for start-ups, laying groundwork for 100 tech entrepreneurs to succeed in Viet Nam and other Southeast Asian countries using NextTech resources.

A pioneer of tech start-ups in Viet Nam since 2011, NextTech Group has nearly 20 years in the market with a technology ecosystem of some 20 companies operating in Viet Nam, China and other eight Southeast Asian countries, covering e-commere, financial technology, logistics and technology education.

Referred to as the 'Alibaba of Viet Nam' by Technode, a large Asian technology news website, NextTech was voted in the 10 most influential internet business in Viet Nam during 2007-17. — VNS