BIG Lands First International Funding, EasySalon Sold to Korean Buyer
Big Investment Group (BIG) has secured a commitment of up to $5 million in equity capital from private capital firm Brookland Group & Partners - the company's first international capital raise. The funding will back planned acquisitions across hospitality, food and beverage, and entertainment in central Ho Chi Minh City, with each transaction financed separately.
BIG is also targeting a move from the UPCoM exchange to HOSE by September 2026, alongside plans to scale its hospitality portfolio using an asset-light model - from 650 hotel rooms in 2026 to 2,750 by 2029 and 8,750 by 2035.
In a separate deal, South Korea-listed NICE Information & Telecommunication (NICE I&T) has acquired more than 93% of EasySalon, its first M&A transaction in Vietnam and second in Southeast Asia. Founded in 2019, EasySalon provides SaaS solutions for beauty businesses and was serving more than 5,000 businesses across 34 provinces as of July 2026.
Taken together, the two deals point to sustained international investor interest in Vietnam's consumer and technology-enabled sectors. BIG's tie-up with Brookland shows how international capital can back the expansion and consolidation of local businesses, while NICE I&T's purchase of EasySalon underscores the appeal of Vietnamese platforms with an established customer base and a scalable business model - a combination that's drawing both domestic and international players deeper into the market.
NSQ Capital Backs Vietnamese Eyecare Group's Nationwide Expansion
Singapore-based healthcare investor NSQ Capital has invested in Anh Sang International Eye Group, backing its expansion from four hospitals into a nationwide ophthalmology platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Founded in 2009 by Professor Ton Thi Kim Thanh, Anh Sang operates four Light Eye Hospital facilities and has treated over 1.5 million patients, offering cataract and refractive surgery, myopia management, retinal and glaucoma care, pediatric ophthalmology, and advanced diagnostics. NSQ Capital will work alongside the founders on new facilities, acquisitions, medical technology, physician development, digitalization, and governance, while the founders retain a significant stake and stay involved in management.
The deal reflects continued private capital interest in specialized healthcare across Southeast Asia, particularly in scalable providers with consolidation potential. For Anh Sang, NSQ Capital's involvement extends beyond funding - into the operational and governance capabilities needed to grow while maintaining existing clinical standards. As demand for specialized eyecare rises, providers that can scale without compromising quality of care look set to draw increasing investor attention across the region.
InnoEx 2026 Draws Over 30,000 Attendees Across Two Days
InnoEx 2026 concluded after two days with 30,156 attendees, 315 exhibiting companies, 165 speakers and experts, and 26 activities - a scale that highlights how far Vietnam's innovation ecosystem has grown.
The event brought together government agencies, corporations, startups, investors, international organizations, and technology partners, covering AI, data, operational excellence, green innovation, supply chains, and international cooperation. Key programs included Startup Wheel 2026, the Green Innovation Summit, Impact FORUM, the Korea ICT & AI Partnership Seminar, and the Plastic Innovation Programme Demo Day, each designed to connect startups and emerging solutions with businesses, investors, and markets.
Startup Wheel 2026 alone attracted over 2,000 Vietnamese projects and 200-plus international projects from 28 countries and territories, with Viet Dynamic winning the Vietnam category and Aqufish taking the international title.
The turnout and range of participants point to a broader shift: innovation in Vietnam is increasingly treated as a shared business and economic priority rather than a siloed startup or technology agenda. Platforms like InnoEx can help connect local businesses and startups with investors, international partners, and new technologies - but the real test lies beyond the event itself, in whether ideas showcased on the exhibition floor make it into real business adoption and scale.
Vietnam Targets 250 Research-Based Startups by 2030
Vietnam is developing the National Startup Innovation Programme 2026–2035, built around two specific bottlenecks: commercializing research and IP, and helping startups move beyond acceleration into actual scale.
The programme will prioritize strategic and deep tech, high technology, climate tech, green industries, and the digital and data economy, with 2030 targets including 250 research and IP-based startups, 500 supported startups, 100 strategic technology companies, and 30 international founders, experts, and startups operating in Vietnam. Support will target the gap between research and market-ready products - spanning prototyping, market validation, and business model development - while growth-stage startups get help with market expansion, scale-up, fundraising, and investor connections.
The push comes as Vietnam rose five places to rank 50th in StartupBlink's Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2026, with the government also building a stronger startup database and measurement framework to guide data-driven policy and resource allocation.
Together, the targets mark a shift in Vietnam's startup policy - from supporting startup formation toward enabling commercialization, scaling, and international competitiveness. Whether that shift delivers will hinge on how effectively the gap between research and market application actually closes, and on whether growth-stage startups get real access to the capital they need - not just formation-stage support, which is where Vietnam's policy focus has traditionally concentrated.
Vietnam Targets $200-300B FDI by 2030, Shifts Focus to Integration
Vietnam is shifting its FDI strategy from simply attracting capital and projects toward building a stronger foreign-invested sector integrated with the domestic economy, guided by Resolution No. 10-NQ/TW and a sharper focus on FDI quality and impact.
The new strategy prioritizes technology transfer, R&D, productivity improvements, and stronger links between foreign-invested and Vietnamese businesses, rather than capital volume alone. Strengthening the technological, management, and financial capabilities of domestic companies is treated as critical to their becoming suppliers and partners to multinational corporations - and to capturing more value from FDI rather than just hosting it. The government is considering performance-based incentives for R&D and supplier training, while promoting cooperation through joint ventures, M&A, and supply-chain partnerships.
By 2030, Vietnam aims to become a leading ASEAN business and investment destination and attract $200–300 billion in registered FDI during 2026–2030, prioritizing high-tech manufacturing, the digital economy, green industries, and semiconductors.
The shift signals a move from "attracting more capital" to "creating more value from capital." Whether that succeeds will depend on how effectively technology transfer and supplier development actually take hold, since neither happens automatically just because a resolution calls for it. For foreign investors, though, it does point toward a more ecosystem-oriented environment - one where long-term partnerships with Vietnamese companies, talent, and supply chains may increasingly determine which investments hold up over time.
Genesia Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm operating in Japan and Southeast Asia, with a strong belief in the long-term potential of Vietnam’s digital economy. Beyond providing capital, the fund actively supports startups through strategic guidance and connections to a broader regional network.