"Historically, in my past investments, most of the founders graduated from universities in Singapore. I think they have a higher advantage compared to founders who studied in the US or Europe because Singapore is so close to Vietnam. They still get the international exposure that founders without foreign education don’t have, but they can make a trip to Vietnam, which takes less than two hours. They get updated on what's happening in the country more often. Most of the time, these founders also worked for a Southeast Asian conglomerate or a Vietnamese conglomerate right after graduation, so immediately, they are emerged in the local market compared to Harvard and Oxbridge graduates." - Valerie Vu
"Food delivery is a tough, low-margin, or a negative-margin business for many platforms. It's a very tough business to build, and supposedly, economies of scale will let you consolidate some SG&A costs, give you some profitability, negotiating leverage, but depending on how you look at it, Foodpanda didn't sell, and supposedly Grab left the table. They felt like the price wasn't good enough and perhaps the public disclosure of the talks came out as well. So I think it's interesting to see how Foodpanda does. It’s not in Vietnam, but it's interesting to see how the consolidation of the food systems will come out." - Jeremy Au
"Now, the few remaining substantial players are Grab and ShopeeFood. Shopee acquired a food review company in Vietnam called Foodie, and rebranded it to ShopeeFood. That’s why it offers a more diverse selection of merchants and restaurants compared to Grab, especially those mom-and-pop shops because they have more reviews from previous users of Foodie." - Valerie Vu
In this episode, Jeremy Au speaks on Vietnam's air quality pollution versus industrial growth, China tourism and Taylor Swift, and food delivery industry economics (ShopeeFood versus Grab versus Foodpanda) with Valerie Vu.
Keywords: Vietnam, Air Quality Pollution vs Industrial Growth, China Tourism, Taylor Swift, Food Delivery Industry Economics, ShopeeFood, Grab, Foodpanda, Valerie Vu, Vietnam, Thought Leadership
