As venture capitalists, when we think of sectors and in turn problem statements that are truly native to Southeast Asia, agriculture immediately comes to mind. Vietnam’s agricultural industry in particular rises to the top of the stack among ASEAN markets, exhibiting compelling fundamentals that should warrant a second glance from any investor worth their salt. The sector employs 40% of the total workforce, contributing 14% of its GDP, and generates $55 billion in exports, while feeding millions through a complex web of farmers, cooperatives, and buyers.
Yet, for all its scale, the sector remains stubbornly analog, riddled with inefficiencies like limited options for working capital, fractured supply chains, and suboptimal access to international markets. These gaps don’t just stifle farmers and agri-businesses—they cap the country’s potential to effectively compete on a global level. That’s why we’re excited to back Hao Diep, co-founder and CEO of TechCoop, a Vietnam-based agri-financing platform that’s tackling these challenges head-on with a blend of financial ingenuity, operational grit, and visionary leadership.
Humble beginnings
Hao’s founder journey is a testament to resilience and reinvention. Growing up in rural Vietnam, Hao witnessed firsthand the financial hardships farmers and co-ops faced, often helping her mother collect informal debts from informal lending and observing her father crunch numbers for local farming co-ops. This early immersion gave Hao not just empathy for but an intimate understanding of the industry’s stakeholders and their pain points.
Fast forward to today, Hao brings over 15 years of experience growing businesses from startups to scale-ups. At iCare Benefits, one of Vietnam’s earliest fintech startups, Hao employed network-based partner acquisition and engaged in strategic negotiations with banks to secure critical financing, propelling the company’s revenue from zero to $85M. Later at Nafoods, she successfully developed new product lines, expanded export markets, and modernized operations, collectively enabling the publicly listed company to nearly quadruple revenue over four years while turning it into a leading manufacturer and exporters of fruits. These experiences didn’t just sharpen her skills; they helped her crystallize a vision for a comprehensive agritech platform that would address the systemic inefficiencies holding back Vietnam’s agricultural potential.
Rewiring agrinomics
Vietnam’s agricultural landscape is paradoxically robust yet hindered by traditional inefficiencies. Anchors and cooperatives—the essential connectors between farmers and markets—struggle with chronic liquidity shortages. Farmers need immediate payment, but buyers require extended credit terms, allowing traders to fill the gap at steep margins of 20-50%. Traditional banks often shy away from unsecured agricultural lending, limiting growth opportunities.
TechCoop addresses these gaps head-on, providing vital working capital directly to anchors and cooperatives at significantly lower rates, bypassing costly middlemen. The company also aims to eventually digitalize the entire value chain, offering traceability software and ERP systems to enhance operational efficiencies for stakeholders. The broader outlook, however, is focused on helping Vietnamese agri-players access and play on a global stage, helping them become export-ready and effectively bulletproof in terms of financing, technology, and compliance.
In just two years, TechCoop has onboarded thousands of anchors and farmers into their ecosystem, disbursed tens of millions of dollars in working capital financing, while maintaining 0% in non-performing loans and consistent profitability—a rare feat for such a rapidly scaling startup. The company is now on track to reach $250M in annualized revenue in 2025, with a long-term goal of empowering 2,000 agri-SMEs, 50,000+ farmer clubs, and 10 million smallholder farmers.
From local to global
In 2023, Vietnam’s agricultural exports hit $55 billion, with ambitions to reach $100 billion by 2030, yet the industry is still plagued with legacy processes and antiquated thinking. TechCoop is seizing this moment, helping Vietnam look beyond its domestic constraints and turn it into a launchpad for a global agri-revolution. The company’s export initiatives have already reached markets like Japan, Taiwan and UAE, connecting local producers to international buyers hungry for quality crops. Hao’s strategy targets nascent but high-growth products where Vietnam’s quality shines—think mangoes, cashews, dragon fruit, etc. Early traction is promising, with plans to scale exports dramatically by establishing key corridors that will eventually extend to Europe, China, and the US.
But Hao’s vision goes beyond just empowering Vietnamese players. She’s building TechCoop into a cross-regional powerhouse, taking their full-stack B2B platform offering financing, technology, and quality assurance, and replicating it across other Southeast Asian countries with promising agricultural roots. TechCoop hopes to eventually establish a sophisticated matching platform that will link Southeast Asian argi-SMEs with global supply chains, using data-driven insights to pair growers and processors with buyers worldwide. Infrastructure upgrades will ensure consistency, while partnerships with international banks and buyers will unlock new markets. TechCoop isn’t just exporting crops; it’s exporting Vietnam’s agri-model, aiming to redefine how emerging economies feed the world.
Why Hao, why now?
Hao stands out as a founder who blends battle-tested experience with a relentless drive to innovate. Her deep roots in Vietnam’s farming communities, paired with a career of scaling complex businesses, give her an edge few can match. She’s navigated fintech pivots, turned around public companies, and built networks that secured low-cost capital from banks—a skillset honed over decades. Today, as Vietnam’s agri-sector teeters on the brink of global prominence, Hao is poised to lead the charge, turning TechCoop into a bridge between local growers and international markets.
The timing couldn’t be better—global demand for sustainable, traceable produce is surging, and Vietnam is ready to deliver. Hao’s not chasing trends; she’s setting them, with a clear path to a $1 billion-plus future. Risks like export scaling and tech adoption loom, but her history of exceeding expectations gives us confidence. We’re thrilled to back Hao alongside prominent investors including TNB Aura, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, Capria, Blue Orchard, and FMO in their landmark $70M series A, and look forward to helping her turn Vietnam into a global agricultural powerhouse.
