Only selling vegetable straws to Europe, startup signed an investment agreement of 11 billion VND with 2 giants

After only 2 weeks of airing on the show "Shark Tank Vietnam", two investors, Shark Thai and Shark Nga, quickly conducted an appraisal and signed an investment agreement with the Ecos vegetable straw startup. The signing ceremony between the 3 units recently took place in Hanoi , promising to create green product lines - safe for users' health and friendly to the environment.

Two investors, Shark Thai and Shark Nga, quickly conducted due diligence and signed an agreement to invest 11 billion VND in the vegetable straw startup Ecos. Photo: SharkTank

At the signing ceremony, Shark Thai (Mr. Nguyen Van Thai - founding shareholder, Vice President of Thai Huong Group) said that immediately after the program aired, as the main investor leading the deal, he quickly deployed an overall appraisal of the business, including Ecos's finance, management and production to prepare for the official capital injection.

Specifically, he visited the Song Hong Cooperative's vegetable straw production facility and expressed his impression of the cooperative's production line and equipment system, all of which were manufactured and put into operation and production by Mr. Le Van Tam, founder of Ecos.

Through appraisal, the two investors realized that the cooperative was facing financial difficulties and was using limited bank loans for production and business activities, so they quickly signed an investment agreement and established a joint stock company to have a legal basis for early capital injection into the enterprise.

This is the second investment agreement signing of Shark Tank Vietnam season 7. Photo: SharkTank

As a "shark" who admires the dedication of founder Le Van Tam and sees the potential of Ecos vegetable straws, Mr. Nguyen Van Thai said he wants to support startups more in building and developing their businesses.

Shark Thai shared: "We are very excited and proud to join Ecos. We not only want to bring quality products to consumers but also aim to create a positive impact on society and the environment. This is a project of the future, and I am very grateful to Shark Tank for creating the opportunity to connect us with Mr. Le Van Tam and Shark Nga in this meaningful project."

Joining hands with Shark Thai in supporting Ecos, Shark Nga (Ms. Le My Nga - Chairman of Weangels Capital Investment Fund) shared: "I hope that through this cooperation, in the near future, the inventions of Vietnamese researchers will be successfully commercialized, completely "made in Vietnam". I expect startups like Ecos to appear more, bringing value not only to Vietnamese consumers but also to the world."

Mr. Le Van Tam, Director of the Song Hong Agricultural Service Cooperative (Dong Anh District, Hanoi) came up with the idea of ​​turning vegetables, tubers, and fruits grown at his cooperative into the main raw material to create environmentally friendly straws, gradually replacing plastic straws. Photo: SharkTank

At the signing ceremony, Mr. Le Van Tam - Director of Song Hong Agricultural Service Cooperative (Dong Anh district, Hanoi) emotionally said: "The farmers and I did not expect that our efforts would achieve the results we have today. I am very passionate about bringing products to consumers not only in Vietnam but also globally, to those who love nature and environmentally friendly products."

Mr. Tam said that he hopes that with the support of Shark Thai and Shark Nga, the cooperative can help many Vietnamese people access safe, internationally-standard products right in Vietnam and make positive contributions to the community and society.

In addition to its main use for drinking water, this type of straw can also be stir-fried, boiled, dipped in hot pot, or even fried into snacks. Photo: Minh Ngoc

Ecos is a brand of straws made from vegetables of Song Hong Agricultural Service Cooperative founded by Mr. Le Van Tam. After many years of research and having to "mortgage" their houses 3 times, Mr. Tam's products have met international standards and have been successfully exported to a number of European countries. In December 2020, the straws made from vegetables and fruits of Song Hong Agricultural Cooperative were awarded a "5-star" OCOP product rating by the OCOP Scoring Council - One Commune One Product Program of Hanoi City.

Up to now, his vegetable straw products have exported 5 20ft containers to European countries, with a selling price of 500 VND/product.

On average, the Red River Agricultural Service Cooperative produces 50,000 vegetable straws per day. Photo: Minh Ngoc

Unlike plastic straws, vegetable and fruit straws will become slightly soft after about 30 minutes of being placed in warm water but still retain their structure and hardness enough to be used for the next 10 hours. Each straw is disposable, has a shelf life of 18 months from the date of manufacture, and is easily biodegradable so it does not harm the environment.

The special thing about this product is that in addition to its main use (for drinking water), people can use the straw to stir-fry, boil, dip in hot pot, or even fry it into snacks to create delicious dishes.

Source: https://danviet.vn/chi-ban-ong-hut-rau-cu-sang-chau-au-startup-duoc-2-dai-gia-ky-ket-thoa-thuan-dau-tu-11-ty-dong-2024090415131526.htm