The mark on the "shark" chair
In addition to the NextTech ecosystem and technology projects, businessman Nguyen Hoa Binh (Shark Binh) is also famous for his "shark" role on the Shark tank Vietnam program. He first appeared in season 3 (2019).
Shark Binh's most successful deal is Coolmate, an online men's fashion startup launched at Shark tank season 4 in 2021. The deal was finalized at 500,000 USD for 10% of shares, equivalent to a valuation of 5 million USD and was quickly invested by NextTech. After receiving capital from Shark Binh, Coolmate entered a strong development phase.
In 2023, Coolmate achieved a revenue of VND 363 billion, an increase of more than 80% over the previous year. In 2024, this startup completed the Series B round to raise an additional 6 million USD led by Vertex Ventures SEA & India. Shark Binh shared at The Investors season 2 that Coolmate's valuation has reached VND 2,000 billion, bringing many times more profits to his portfolio.
Another deal was Xin Chao Bread in season 6. After the program was broadcast, NextTech representative confirmed that it had disbursed 500,000 USD to standardize the franchise model, digitize the system and expand to the Japanese market. Currently, Xin Chao Bread has 24 stores in many major provinces and cities in Japan.
Shark Binh also sponsored 1.2 million USD for the Perfect smart home appliance brand in the first season of Shark tank Vietnam, aiming for robot vacuum cleaner products and IoT equipment. He also invested 8 billion VND in Nada Oils - a natural essential oil startup, and once poured 10 billion VND to support engineer Nguyen Vinh Son in commercializing mechanical inventions, doubling his commitment on television.
Deals are not as expected
Not only stopping in the technology field, Shark Binh also expanded to real estate when it established Nextland Real Estate Investment and Trading Company Limited in February 2021, with a charter capital of 20 billion VND. After just over a year, the company's capital increased to hundreds of billions of VND. The legal representative is Mr. Dao Manh Dung - Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director.
However, up to now, NextTech's website no longer appears this enterprise in the investment portfolio.
At the same time, NextTech strongly promoted blockchain. In 2021, Mr. Binh announced an investment of 2.5 million USD in the AntEx project through the Next100Blockchain fund, playing the role of strategic consultant. However, token AntEx quickly lost up to 99% of its value, and its website and communication channels officially stopped operating. In March 2023, AntEx changed its name to Rabbit (RAB), but the new token was still down more than 95% from its peak. Currently, this project is under investigation by the police.
Invest more in stocks than startups
In the fintech segment, NextTech is the unit behind a series of electronic payment projects such as Ngan Luong, Vimo, AlePay, mPOS and NextPay. In particular, Ngan Luong - established in 2012 - was once considered the "golden egg breeder" when the charter capital increased from 52.7 billion VND to nearly 370 billion VND, then decreased again to 52.7 billion VND in January 2024.
In the field of e-commerce, Shark Binh has invested in Bot Ban Hang, Cnvloyalty, Coolmate, Ladipage, Myspa. The electronics logistics segment includes Boxme, HeyU, FastGo; while the education - social segment includes TopCV, Schola, Tick.com.
However, of the more than 20 projects that were launched under the PeaceSoft or NextTech brand, many projects have stopped operations or disappeared from the market such as Shipchung.vn, Weshop, chodientu.vn. Others are moderate in activities such as FastGo, while BoxMe and Ngan Luong still maintain certain positions.
On a personal level, Shark Binh once shared that he is currently investing more in stocks than in startups. He said that only when a good project is found, capital is poured, while idle capital is invested in more legitimate and safer canals. Profit from that is then used to reinvest in startups.
