Angel investors (also known as private investors, seed investors or angel funders) are individuals or organisations who are willing to pour their own money into a start-up business at its seed-stage, start-up-stage or early-stage in which most of other investors and banks are hesitant to invest due to the high unforeseen failure risk.

Local startups attending the Da Nang International Startup Conference and Exhibition, or SURF 2019.

Angel investors provide capital, connections and experience to promising startups to help them grow at an early stage.

In recent years, many startups in Da Nang have found right angel investors to back them.

Mr Nguyen Long Giang, the founder of the M-Medic project, said, in 2018 he found his angle investor who was Ms Le My Nga, a Director of Strategy of the Viet Nam Creative Startup Investment JSC, and she invested US$10,000 in his project at an early stage.

In addition to providing financial backing for the project, Ms Nga has provided timely advice and experience to help the M-Medic project owner expand networks of customers and partners.

Mr Nguyen Minh Khoa, the developer of Green Beli app which allows users to find and evaluate environmentally-friendly locations across the city, said since Green Beli app remained on the table, angel investors offered financial support of 1.7 billion VND.

It is the fact that, however, the number of angel investors in Da Nang is still modest, so many startups in Da Nang are calling for financial backing from angel investors both at home and overseas such as Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore.

In order to deal with this problem, entrepreneurs across Da Nang are working with the Da Nang Department of Science and Technology to build an angel investment network in the city in the time to come.

The Da Nang angel investment network will help connect business entrepreneurs with angel investors, find an investor for a start-up business, or access a network of investment. Also, it will help to attract more startups from other localities nationwide to the city, thereby building a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem in Da Nang.

By PHONG LAN - Translated by M.D