Room for venture capital in Vietnam: Impact fund Earth VC

Recession Run is a series where we talk to Southeast Asia’s investors to suss out the opportunities they see this funding winter.

“Things are changing fast, especially in the mountains,” says Tien Nguyen, founding partner at Earth Venture Capital.

The snowy peaks of the Swiss Alps aren’t as snowy as they used to be, while the birds and small animals that frequented the area have moved away, Tien says. He goes on to describe other repercussions of climate change that he’s seen in different parts of the world.

Earth VC’s founding partners Luke Nguyen (left) and Tien Nguyen/ Photo credit: Earth Venture Capital

Recognizing how quickly things are changing is what prompted Tien and Luke Nguyen to set up Earth Venture Capital, an investment firm for climate tech.

Why Vietnam? 🇻🇳

While the firm’s mandate is to fund startups from across the globe, the founders see Vietnam as being at the frontier in the battle against climate change. “It’s the balcony to the Pacific Ocean and is more sensitive than countries which are inland,” says Tien about the firm’s headquarters.

“We have more than hundred VCs in the country but the commitment is to invest around US$1.5 billion. That’s tiny compared to other markets,” he says. “There’s a lot of room for venture capital to grow in Vietnam.”

A sum of its parts
Active since: 2022
Founders: Tien Nguyen, Linh Nguyen
Current fund size: Undisclosed
Invests in: Greentech, Climate tech
Portfolio firms: Clearbot, Alterpacks, Ampotech
Headquarters: Vietnam
Areas covered: Global
Ticket size: US$300,000 to US$3 million
Other highlights: Has a venture studio and a foundation

A mountain of deals 🌄

The founders of Earth VC are passionate hikers, but they also regularly scale a metaphorical mountain – one built of ideas that, though well-intentioned, aren’t fast and scalable enough to make an immediate impact. Tien says they speak to 200 startups every month to find ideas that are ambitious and have real breakthrough solutions.

Still new on the block, the fund has funded three startups to date and hopes to close seven more deals this year. “We’ve got enough power in terms of sourcing,” Tien says, without going into the current fund’s size.

He says the company expects to invest in countries like the Philippines and Australia soon and is likely to raise its next fund in the next two years.

Think global solutions 🗺️

The firm’s global outlook has its reasons: For one, despite Vietnam being relatively more vulnerable to climate change, the country has seen few entrepreneurs in the field.

Though the firm had onboarded 11 startups on its venture studio platform, Tien says the ideas weren’t dramatic enough to keep pace with the problem. “We realized we need ideas that work fast and that we need to invest in the solutions and bring them into Vietnam and other economies that are in a similar position.”

The search for lasting large-scale solutions has led the firm not just across borders but also to build a varied portfolio, which includes a Hong Kong-based robotics startup called Clearbot.

Climate tech is today’s fintech 💰