As two projects from Da Nang that entered the top 10 finalists and the semi-final round of Viet Nam Track in the 2022 Start-up Wheel contest respectively at the end of August, Beekids and U-home are increasingly perfecting their models, aiming to scale up from the experiences learned from such a highly prestigious competition.

Startups earn more cooperation opportunities from big startup competitions. Here is Beekids project booth at the Viet Nam Startup Day 2022 exhibition. Photo: M.Q

Increase opportunities for cooperation

Mr. Le Trung, a resident in Thanh Khe Dong Ward, Thanh Khe District said, more than 3 years since he embarked upon working on the Beekids project, although he has introduced it many times to other startup playgrounds and investors, Startup Wheel remained one of his unforgettable experiences. Although the project ended up in the top 10 in the end, the project received many opportunities from the competition.

Through the challenges in each round, the training sessions, the words of encouragement, the Start-up Wheel organisers gave startup projects the opportunity to  review themselves more carefully.

“During the two-day exhibition, the project had the opportunity to connect with partners and investors sharing the same orientations. At the same time, Beekids and startup projects have boosted connection, mutual exchanges of experience and expressed their desire to beef up cooperative ties to spread each other's products. Startup Wheel is dubbed as ‘a relay station’ for the Beekids on the journey to look back and move on to the next time. Believing in the project, believing in myself is also one of the factors that helped me convey the project more convincingly, "said Trung.

Beekids is a technology solution that helps preschools manage and teach children in the classroom through an intuitive interaction.

In June, Beekids began debuting children's thinking development courses on an open education platform. As for Beekids' orientations by 2023, it will bring at least 2 prestigious thought development programes from abroad for Vietnamese children, launch a programme to develop financial thinking, programming, and at the same time, launching an international version to increase connectivity.

Beekids will continue to expand its consumer market and it is calling for some investment funds to reach out to other Southeast Asian countries, Brazil and India with a complete and optimal artificial intelligence (AI) integration in a bid to bring the best learning experience for children aged 4-10.

More motivation for next development steps

As shared by Mr. Tran Nguyen Long, a resident in Hai Chau District, this was the first time his U-home project had participated in such a startup competition. Encouragingly, despite having finished its race at the Startup Wheel 2022 semi-final round, U-home received high praise and great encouragement from the contest’s judging board and experts.

Accordingly, U-home was born to help connect people in need in home repair, construction and restoration or facing other unexpected problems with workers through the use of AI. Right from the early days at the competition, the project received a lot of support from the organisers to further improve.

Startup Wheel has helped U-home increase its connection network, in line with the goal of expanding consumer markets. After the competition, U-home plans to participate in other programmes, competitions and start-up incubators so as to gain more experience.

In regards to pieces of useful advice to successfully raise capital, Mr. Long said that, before approaching investors, startups need to deeply understand their products, and also importantly, determine what stage you are in during the development process, consider the purpose of using capital, the level of financial and business risks in the present and in the future. Also, specific data on development plans, profitability, market size, specific planning for the next 3-5 years on product roadmap and business plans should be made later.

Till date, U-home has called for about VND 6 billion worth of investment from start-up investment funds to research and develop other service groups besides repair, namely the service of connecting with suppliers of materials and periodically taking care of homes.

With the service of connecting with suppliers of materials, the U-home system will add a list of building material and furniture stores close to customers so that workers can buy tools and supplies they really want as quickly as possible.

The periodical home care service will aim to support customers by having a mechanic check tools and home equipment every 2-3 months in a bid to promptly detect damage (if any). This new service is quite suitable in the context of many recent fire and explosion accidents happening nationwide over recent times due to a shortage of regular checks over home appliances.

After nearly one year of launch, U-Home has more than 5,000 users and more than 300 orders per month in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. The rate of customers returning to use the service is 60%, and returning to use the service with 60% and giving 5-start ratings with 95%.

Reporting by MAI QUE - Translating by A.THU