Ho Chi Minh City has unveiled Vietnam’s first public-private venture capital fund, injecting VND500 billion (US$19.2 million) to fuel startups and cement the city’s role as a national innovation hub.
Ho Chi Minh City’s launch of the country’s first public-private venture capital fund and activation of support packages worth up to VND200 billion (US$7.63 million) are expected not only to directly address startups’ capital shortage but also to reinforce the city’s role as a national policy laboratory.
First public-private venture fund launches to back high-tech startups
The Ho Chi Minh City Venture Investment Fund, operated by HCMC Venture Investment Fund JSC (HCM VIF JSC), has opened its office at SIHUB at 123 Truong Dinh Street, HCMC. It is the country’s first public-private venture capital fund, designed specifically to support and accompany startups from the incubation stage through to breakthrough growth.
The fund has an initial charter capital of VND500 billion in 2026, with VND200 billion, accounting for 40 percent, contributed from the state budget and VND300 billion, or 60 percent, from the private sector and reputable financial institutions.
By 2035, the fund aims to increase its capital to VND5 trillion.
Director Hoang Duc Trung of HCMC Venture Investment Fund Company said that although the fund has only recently been launched, it has received about 50 investment proposals from incubators and accelerator programs. The fund is expected to make its first one or two disbursements in the fourth quarter of 2026. During this period, it will focus resources on investing in 50-150 startups in core technology fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor chips, biotechnology, renewable energy and automation.
Head Nguyen Thi Thu Suong of the Science and Technology Development Division under the HCMC Department of Science and Technology said the fund’s launch is a concrete step to implement the city’s major policy of addressing the capital bottleneck. With an independent operating model based on market principles and a clear separation between ownership and management rights, the fund is expected to provide a substantive boost for startups to achieve rapid growth.
HCMC unlocks capital for startups with bold loan support program
Most startups currently have intellectual property and skilled teams but lack physical collateral to persuade banks to provide loans. To address this bottleneck, an interest-rate support program from the HCMC Finance and Investment State-owned Company (HFIC), implemented under Resolution No. 09/2023/NQ-HĐND, provides opportunities to access preferential loans of up to VND200 billion per project.
To unlock resources, the city has introduced a credit guarantee mechanism that can support up to 100 percent of loans for innovative startups lacking collateral. Alongside this, HFIC’s interest-rate support program provides financing for construction projects, covering up to 70 percent of capital, and technology innovation projects, covering up to 85 percent of capital, with support available for up to seven years. The interest-rate support ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent, calculated based on the average 12-month deposit rate of four major commercial banks.
According to Tran Trong Tuyen, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology, the Urban Development Law allows the municipal People’s Council to allocate annual charter capital to the fund and allows enterprises to use their own science and technology development funds to invest directly in the city’s fund. This is an unprecedented flexible financial mechanism that helps unlock financial resources from the private sector for high-tech startup projects.
Nguyen Ha Lam, deputy head of HFIC’s Planning and Development Research Division, said that to receive interest-rate support, a project must be in line with the city’s plans, pass HFIC’s assessment of its debt repayment capacity and have not yet signed a contract with a contractor.
He added that for the guarantee mechanism, startups must meet requirements such as having equity capital equivalent to at least 15 percent-20 percent of the project value, fulfilling their tax obligations and having no overdue tax debts.
The establishment of the fund and policies to unlock capital flows show that Ho Chi Minh City has quickly translated Politburo Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW into practice. Through these efforts, the city is taking the lead in creating a breakthrough and paving the way for science and technology and innovative entrepreneurship to develop, with the goal of becoming a leading high-tech center in the region by 2035.
By Ba Tan – Translated by Anh Quan