Born in a poor rural area of Van Lang district, Lang Son province, witnessing the struggle of locals with persimmon harvesting - one year crops fail, another year bumper crops lead to price drops - Vuong Thi Thuong, Director of Toan Thuong Agricultural Cooperative, has always cherished a dream to "change the fate of persimmons as well as change the fate of ethnic minorities."
That was the motivation for her to research and explore, "eat and sleep with persimmons day and night" to find a care process for "hong vanh khuyen" - a specialty gift of her homeland, Van Lang. After 2 years of diligent research, she boldly borrowed money from the bank to build a factory and purchase machinery and equipment to make wind-hanging persimmons. This product can be stored for a long time, easily transported long distances, and sold year-round. As a result, the value of "hong vanh khuyen" from Van Lang district has been elevated 20 times, helping many locals escape poverty and hardship.
Vuong Thi Thuong's inspiring and humane startup story touched Shark Minh Beta's heart. He shared: "Today, by you being here, you are inspiring many others across Vietnam to nurture dreams like yours."
Before questions about business valuation from the "Sharks," the female Director of Toan Thuong Cooperative stated that she was basing it on two factors: available assets and market tastes. Accordingly, the factory was valued at 10 billion VND, and she currently owns 4 technologies that have been valued by the Institute of Science. She also eased the Sharks' concerns about the current operating model making it difficult to receive investment and indicated that she would develop the cooperative into a company.
Sharing about the financial picture, Vuong Thi Thuong said that 2023 revenue was 6 billion VND, with a profit of 2.1 billion VND. The revenue target for 2024 is 10 billion VND, 18 billion VND for 2025, and 40 billion VND for 2026. With the investment capital called for from the Sharks, she will use it to invest in a modern production line to increase output and continue to research new products, while expanding production scale.
Recognizing the potential of "wind-hanging persimmons," Shark Minh Beta expressed confidence in his ability to support the startup in terms of communication, content creation, and even using his relationships in his capacity as Honorary Consul of Slovenia to assist the startup and find ways to expand the market to Europe. However, this is a fairly new field for him, so Shark Minh Beta proposed to partner with Shark Binh in this deal.
This is also the second time in Shark Tank season 7 that Shark Binh and Shark Minh "joined hands" to make a deal for a startup. The investment amount offered by the two "Sharks" was 2 billion VND for 33% equity, and 3 billion VND as a preferential loan.
After consulting with experts, Ms. Thuong agreed to the offer from Shark Binh and Shark Minh Beta: an investment of 2 billion VND for 33% equity, with the condition of removing land from the company's assets, and a loan of 3 billion VND with a term of 3 years that will be converted into equity at market valuation or a CAP (valuation cap) of 20 billion VND.