HCMC - Ecommerce needs more investments from hedge funds and State funds for further development, according to Vietnam Ecombiz 2010.
Nguyen Ngoc Diep, CEO of vatgia.com, a B2B e-commerce website, said at the event that his website nearly collapsed three years ago because of lack of investment capital. “We needed money for server, technology, sales and marketing.”
The company got a lifeline when the hedge fund DFJ Capital poured money into its site. “After three years of development, we have invested US$2.5 million in the site development. Now we have around 60 million visitors and 14,000 online stores,” he said.
Sharing Diep’s view, Hoang Duc Trung, investment officer of DFJ Capital, said his fund is seeking potential companies active in the Internet field for investment. “We set aside at least US$16 million for Internet companies in Vietnam. We are considering establishing a new fund for Vietnam and its debut is likely next year,” he said.
Speaking at the Vietnam Ecombiz event, Nguyen Thanh Hung, head of the Department of Ecommerce and Information under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the sector has been rapidly growing over the past 10 years. However, it been met with barriers from payment, logistics, old practices of commerce, regulations and Internet infrastructure.
According to the department, Vietnam plans to strongly develop e-commerce in 2011-2015. Nearly all local enterprises use email for transactions, 80% have their own websites and 70% purchase goods and sign contracts via the Internet.
Meanwhile, government officials, business executives, local and international information technology experts are gathering in Hanoi for the FutureGov Vietnam 2010 Forum to discuss the e-government model and the application of new technologies in running the government.
