Foreign angel investors are upbeat about investing in Vietnamese start-ups and are looking for partners with similar visions to co-invest.

Foreign angel investors are upbeat about investing in Vietnamese start-ups and are looking for partners with similar visions to co-invest.

A panel of angel investors from the European Union, New Zealand, and the United States expressed the hope while discussing the role of foreign investors in Vietnam’s startup ecosystem yesterday at a conference in Hanoi. The event, which is part of the larger Mekong Business Initiative, attracted many local start-up founders and investors.

“I am impressed with the entrepreneurial spirit we have encountered in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam,” said panellist Irish-American angel investor David Beatty, founder and managing partner of Gaingels LLC, which makes seed investments in companies with LGBT founders.

The panellists agreed that the biggest challenge for angel investors in Vietnam is having no one with similar experience to talk to, due to the small number of angel investors operating in the country.

“We need more investors to come in in order for the Vietnamese entrepreneur ecosystem to be sustainable,” said Beatty.

Earlier, the angel investors spent two days at workshops with Hanoi-based start-ups to share knowledge and provide training in presentation skills. As part of the Mekong Angel Investors Network (MAIN), an international group of angel investors, they are on a two-week trip around Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The delegation is working with local investors in each city and is looking for investment opportunities in early-stage high-growth companies.

The MAIN delegation was organised by the Mekong Business Initiative (MBI) and Lotus Fund, with funding from the Asian Development Bank and the Australian government. The delegation arrived on Sunday for its second mission to Vietnam in the last three months and expects to return with a new set of investors on a quarterly basis, although the cities the investors visit may vary.