Vietnam's education sector wide open to investors

Educational services at different levels in Vietnam are offering investment opportunities for overseas funds and investors to tap into, with the country witnessing a surge in edtech investments last year.

Hanoi-headquartered Mclass, one of the fastest-growing educational technology platforms in Vietnam, has been acquired by Ruangguru, the Indonesian edtech startup announced on Tuesday, but did not disclose the deal’s value.

The acquisition aims to expand Ruangguru’s reach and capabilities across Southeast Asia, it said. The Indonesian company entered the Vietnamese market in 2019 through a platform named Kien Guru. Kien means the ant, an animal with a reputation for being hard workers.

The deal, according to Ruangguru, complements Kien Guru’s existing online learning options for K-12 students, including pre-recorded live teaching and homework helper solutions. These services have already been used by more than 2.5 million students in Vietnam over the last four years. The acquisition is also expected to allow Mclass’ teachers to reach more students across the region.

Founded in 2019 by Nguyen Van Khai and Nguyen Minh Thang, Mclass offers live teaching sessions in math, science, literature, and preparations for tests like IELTS. It claims teachers on the app have seen 85,000 learners join their live classes and gained over 10 million followers on their social networks.

Ruangguru was founded in 2014 by Belva Devara and Iman Usman and has amassed over 40 million users across Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Singapore investment funds ramp up

Teky Alpha, another Hanoi-headquartered educational technology startup, has raised $5 million in funding from Singapore-based impact investment firm Sweef Capital. This marks Sweef Capital’s first investment from its Southeast Asia Women's Economic Empowerment Fund.

The investment will support the expansion of Teky’s educational services in Vietnam’s public school system and after-school programs for children aged five to 18 years, Sweef Capital said on Monday.

Teky was founded by Vietnamese businesswoman Dao Lan Huong in 2016 and focuses on the delivery of science, technology, engineering, the arts and math (STEAM) education. The company operates 16 STEAM academies in five cities in Vietnam and has partnered with more than 45 schools across the country to deliver STEAM courses to more than 25,000 children.

Jennifer Buckley, founder and managing director of Sweef Capital, said they were “beyond excited” about this milestone in her company’s journey.

“We see this investment contributing great foundational skills for children, some of whom currently have limited exposure to STEAM,” she said. “We look forward to building on this partnership with Teky and working with them to demonstrate value creation opportunities linked with women’s economic empowerment.”

Sweef’s investment will support the expansion of Teky’s network of academies, further development of its digital platform, and integration of a STEAM curriculum in public schools.

Sweef Capital’s partners – Denmark’s Pædagogernes Pension (PBU), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), Emerging Market Impact Investment Fund (EMIIF) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) – contributed to the funding, Sweef said.

Sune Schackenfeldt, CEO of PBU, said in the Sweef release that its investment in Sweef had a clear link to its strategy for responsible investment and spoke directly to its members’ interests.

He said: “Many of our members are educators and this first investment in Teky provides strong alignment with the issues affecting them.”

PBU is a $12 billion fund based in Copenhagen. Private equity (PE) in Southeast Asia is an important part of PBU’s social impact investing strategy, the fund says. PBU is 100% owned by its members.

MindX, a Vietnamese edtech startup focusing on technology training, in April raised $15 million in a series B funding round led by Singapore-headquartered private equity fund Kaizenvest. Other investors joining the round included Thailand-based education firm Aksorn, Japanese human resources firm Mynavi, and existing investor Wavemaker Partners, which had led the firm’s series A round.

MindX secured $3 million in November 2021 from a series A funding round led by Wavemaker Partners, Thien Viet Securities, and Beacon Fund.

Founded in Hanoi in 2015, MindX has grown to become a leading ecosystem of technology education and entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia, providing digital skill training for all age groups. The startup now operates nearly 40 establishments nationwide with over 40,000 graduates.

MindX’s educational offerings have now expanded beyond coding to in-demand skills like blockchain, data analytics, and user interface/user experience (UI/UX) design.

The startup’s goal is to create “small Silicon Valleys” across Vietnam, with educational centers that help prepare students of all ages for careers in tech.

Vietnam witnessed a boom in edtech investments last year. In September 2022, Edupia raised $14 million in series A financing led by Jungle Ventures. In the same month, Vietnam-based edtech startup Virtual Internships said it raised $14.3 million series A led by European technology investor Hambro Perks, with the participation of Sequoia India and Southeast Asia’s Surge, Arsenal Growth, Kaplan, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, and STIC Investments.

“Virtual internships are addressing the needs of a more digital working world and providing opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to be part of the globalized economy,” Hambro Perks managing director Nicholas Sharp said in a statement at that time.

Vietnam is seen as a potential market for edtech development given the high rate of internet users, at about 70% of the country’s 100 million population, and a tech-savvy community.

Higher education investment opportunity

The family behind Taylor’s Education Group is currently exploring the sale of a minority stake in a unit that owns private universities in Malaysia and Vietnam – Taylor’s University and the British University, respectively.

A Bloomberg report on May 5 said a transaction could value the business at about $400 million, and the process is private, therefore the sources of this information were not named.

The Loy family controls Taylor’s Education Group, a provider of schools, colleges and universities with over 22,000 students in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, according to its website.

Established in 2009, the British University Vietnam (BUV) grants degrees from the UK’s University of London and Staffordshire University to its students in Vietnam, the BUV website shows. It has 11 undergraduate programs and a masters of business administration degree.

BUV is located in the Ecopark township in Hung Yen province, which borders Hanoi.