The launch introduces a specialised financial instrument specifically designed to support innovative start-ups and technology enterprises from the incubation stage through to the growth stage.
As the city with the largest start-up community in the country and home to many major technology corporations, Ho Chi Minh City has consistently been at the forefront of supporting innovation.
During the 2021-2025 period, the city implemented numerous programmes to build capacity and mobilise both domestic and international resources.
However, the ecosystem has continued to lack locally based, market-driven venture capital funds to provide seed capital and guide investment flows.
Operating as a joint stock company under the Law on Enterprises, the fund ensures transparency, autonomy in governance, and independence in investment decision-making.
The fund has an initial charter capital of 500 billion VND (nearly 19 million USD), of which the city budget contributes 40%, with the remainder mobilised from private investors, enterprises, and financial institutions.
This structure reflects a public-private partnership model in which public capital serves to build investor confidence and initiate operations, while private-sector resources are the primary driver of scaling up the fund over the long term.
Under its roadmap through 2035, Ho Chi Minh City aims to raise the fund’s total charter capital to at least 5 trillion VND (nearly 190 million USD), with private capital accounting for a minimum of 60%.
The fund prioritises investment in innovative start-ups, science and technology enterprises, and digital technology companies with strong growth potential.
Lam Dinh Thang, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology, stated that this is an entirely new financial model, enabling public capital to absorb calculated risks and thereby effectively mobilise and channel private resources in support of the city’s innovative start-up ecosystem.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ho Chi Minh City Vice Chairman Nguyen Manh Cuong emphasised that the establishment of the fund represents a breakthrough solution to early-stage investment challenges, marking a landmark step in implementing key national policies on science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation.
