Why vc funding can kill startups

Some of its investors include Singapore’s Vulpes Investment Management, and South Korea’s Nextrans and The Ventures. It had earlier raised $700,000 from angel investors, many of whom also continued to participate in this round of funding. By digitizing and centralizing data sources, Citics aims to create a real estate data platform to support real estate transactions, including real estate valuation, sales-purchase, lease, and mortgage. Citics was founded in November 2018 by the former CEO of real estate broker Cen Group’s southern Vietnam region, Tran Minh Long. Long was listed in Forbes ’s "30 under 30" list of entrepreneurs in 2018. Citics’s board of directors also includes two other faces from the "30 under 30" list – Nguyen Hai Ninh, founder and former CEO of Vietnamese coffee house chain The Coffee House, and Pham Anh Duc, founder of ViCare, a startup that provides information on hospitals, clinics, doctors, drugs and symptoms of diseases. Citics’s first application, Citics Valuations, enables banks to validate the value of a property as collateral for loans. By using a proprietary valuation map, bankers can now check the details and preliminary values of properties with just a few clicks. The official valuation report is completed within three hours, just one fourth the time it usual takes. The application also enables banks’ risk department to control mortgage risks related to property values and locations. Currently, Citics has the data of more than nine million properties nationwide and has estimated values for nearly four million of them. It has provided its valuation service to 10 domestic banks. It expected to expand its valuation service to over 30 cities and provinces, according to its CEO Tran Minh Long. …

[Read more...] about Property technology startup bags $1 mln investment

It will be done between March 10 and April 8 either by order matching or put-through orders, according to a statement from ACB. With the share closing at VND32,450 ($1.41) on Friday, the transaction will be worth around VND3.25 trillion ($140.94 million). Two funds, First Burns Investments Limited and Asia Reach Investments Limited, will sell off their 4.99 percent stake in the bank while a third, DC Developing Markets Strategies Public Limited Company, will buy 0.23 percent to increase its ownership to 0.36 percent. Vietnam-focused Dragon Capital manages around $2.9 billion worth of assets. ACB’s share price has surged 27 percent after the market fell at the end of January, establishing a new all-time high of VND33,250 on March 1. The bank reported a 28 percent increase in post-tax profit last year to VND7.68 trillion. …

[Read more...] about Investment fund Dragon Capital to sell 4.76 percent stake in ACB

The project is being launched with the aim of strengthening the Government’s capacity to sustainably manage HIV and tuberculosis (TB) programmes, thereby moving towards the goal of achieving the country’s commitment to end HIV and TB by 2030. Through the LHSS Vietnam project, USAID will continue working alongside the Government to strengthen public financial management systems for the local health sector and find greater efficiencies in terms of social health insurance. In addition, the scheme will increase and improve the efficiency of domestic financing of HIV prevention and treatment services, whilst strengthening the capacity of local supply chain management systems, and integrating TB services into social health insurance. Addressing the launching ceremony, USAID Vietnam director Ann Marie Yastishock congratulated the Government and the Ministry of Health on the successful transition of their HIV response from donor to domestic funding, with Social Health Insurance (SHI) now becoming the primary financing mechanism. “Vietnam now has 90% of HIV patients enrolled in SHI. All treatment facilities can now be reimbursed for HIV services. Most importantly, SHI funds are now used to procure anti-retroviral drugs, the most expensive component of an HIV response. This is a remarkable trajectory of success and one we are all proud to share with Vietnam. USAID, through PEPFAR, has supported the Government in updating policies and building systems that would support this transition,” she added. LHSS Vietnam represents a four-year project that will run until 2024 and comes with a planned budget of US$13.9 million which is funded by the United States Government through PEPFAR and USAID. It is part of USAID’s global initiative in terms of strengthening integrated health systems to help low- and middle-income countries transition to sustainable and self-financed health systems to support access to universal health coverage. …

[Read more...] about USAID-funded project helps Vietnam combat HIV/AIDS, TB