22 Oct SEAF Invests in EdTech in Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (October 17, 2018)
SEAF has announced that the SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund has invested in Dream Viet Education (“Kyna”), a leading provider of online education courses targeting Vietnamese learners, both adults and children. The company operates under the “Kyna” (kyna.vn) and “Kyna for Kids” (kynaforkids.vn) brand platforms.
Jennifer Buckley, SEAF Senior Managing Director, stated, “This investment demonstrates SEAF’s continued commitment to access to education and women’s economic empowerment in emerging markets. This investment will support Kyna’s ambitious growth plan, which is expected to also result in significant social impact through better access to vocational and parenting skills training for adults and learning in critical early education areas for children, particularly English and mathematics. SEAF is particularly proud to support easier access to such training and education for busy working mothers in Vietnam”.
Ho Hong Bao Tram, Kyna Co-Founder & CEO, indicated, “We strongly believe that technology can bring better, fairer education access to all Vietnamese people especially women and children. With our platform, learners can access qualified courses on demand at a reasonable cost. I really appreciate that SEAF shares this same vision and is supporting our company’s expansion plans. We believe that with SEAF’s support, we can spread high-quality education to a wider range of learners, not only in Vietnam but also across the Southeast Asia region.”
About Dream Viet Education (“Kyna”)
Kyna.vn offers adults professional and personal training courses, with parenting skills, foreign languages, marketing, professional soft skills, finance and business being the most popular. Kynforkids.vn provides school-aged children with online classes in mathematics and English, including its well-received Soroban and Finger Math classes. All Kyna courses are easily accessible via desktop, laptop or mobile phone. Currently, Kyna has over 560 courses published on its platforms and works with over 320 content partners to develop and deliver top quality, online education.
About SEAF
SEAF is an emerging market private equity fund manager targeting both financial returns and significant social impact by providing capital, capacity building, and a global network to support small and medium-sized business expansion. As an impact investor, the firm is particularly focused on women’s economic empowerment and gender equality, equal opportunity in health and education, clean energy and smart solutions, sustainability in agribusiness, financial and technological inclusion, and displaced and migrant lens investing. The Women’s Opportunity Fund is investing up to 2 million USD per investment in growth-oriented, women-led businesses in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Since 1989, SEAF has invested in over 400 companies in 29 countries. For more about SEAF, see www.seaf.com. For more information on SEAF’s activity in gender lens investing, please contact Jennifer Buckley at jbuckley@seaf.com.