Shark Binh's deals in the "shark tank"

(Dan Tri) - After 5 seasons in the "hot seat", Shark Binh (Nguyen Hoa Binh) is one of the "sharks" with a fairly low disbursement rate, only about 15% of the committed investment capital on television.

Besides the NextTech ecosystem and "virtual currency" projects, businessman Nguyen Hoa Binh is also famous for his role as a "shark" on the show Shark Tank Vietnam.

In 2019, Mr. Binh first appeared on the "hot" seat of Shark Tank Vietnam season 3. From here, he was widely known to audiences nationwide with the nickname Shark Binh.

Successful deals

Shark Binh's most successful deal is Coolmate, an online men's fashion startup that debuted on Shark Tank season 4 (2021). This deal was closed at $500,000 for 10% of the shares, equivalent to a startup valuation of up to $5 million and was quickly funded by NextTech.

After receiving capital from Shark Binh, Coolmate has gone through a period of strong development. In 2023, Coolmate recorded a revenue of 363 billion VND, an increase of more than 80% compared to the previous year. In 2024, Coolmate completed the Series B round of fundraising, raising an additional 6 million USD led by Vertex Ventures SEA & India, marking a major milestone after 5 years of operation.

Recently, in a sharing on The Investors season 2, Mr. Binh "boasted" that after many rounds of capital calling, Coolmate's valuation had reached 2,000 billion VND, bringing dozens of times more profit to his investment portfolio.

Banh Mi Xin Chao is accelerating the opening of new stores across Japan (Photo: BanhMiXinChao).

Another notable deal was in season 6, when Shark Binh invested in the Banh Mi Xin Chao brand. After the show aired, a NextTech representative confirmed that they had disbursed $500,000 to this startup. The capital was used to standardize the franchise model, digitize store management, and support expansion to Japan.

Currently, Banh Mi Xin Chao has 24 stores covering major cities in Japan.

In addition, Shark Binh also had the Perfect deal in the first season of Shark Tank Vietnam. After closing the deal, the businessman signed a $1.2 million sponsorship contract for the smart home appliance brand Perfect. At that time, this startup aimed at the product line of robot vacuum cleaners and IoT-based home appliances, in line with the technology orientation of the NextTech ecosystem.

Another deal is Nada Oils - a startup in the field of essential oils and natural care products - which announced receiving an investment of 8 billion VND from Shark Binh in season 5. The capital will be used to expand the production line, standardize packaging and develop online distribution channels.

In addition to commercial startups, Shark Binh also invested 10 billion VND to support engineer Nguyen Vinh Son in mass production and commercialization of mechanical inventions - double the capital committed on television.

Being a "shark" with many branded statements, but low disbursement rate

In another development, Shark Binh's name also made waves when, in his first season on the hot seat, he once "criticized" Dat Bike because he thought that Dat Bike's electric motorbike business model "has no chance and society may not need it". But in reality, this brand is still developing and continuously calling for capital.

On air, Shark Binh also left behind many trademark statements with phrases such as "crazy price", "dragon vein", "east wind" or "soul mate".

One of the most notable moments occurred in episode 2 of season 5, when Denise Sandquist (Tran Thanh Huong), founder of the FIKA app, entered the fundraising room with an offer of $3 million for a 2% stake.

After the presentation, Shark Binh frankly said that this was one of the most "crazy" offers in Shark Tank Vietnam so far in the past 5 seasons. The statement quickly became the center of discussion, making "crazy" a phrase associated with Shark Binh's image.

However, after 5 seasons in the "hot seat" of Shark Tank, Shark Binh is one of the "sharks" with a fairly low disbursement rate, only about 15% compared to the capital committed to invest on television.

Shark Binh on Shark Tank (Photo: SharkTank).

Expanding into real estate, blockchain and stocks

Not only in the technology field, Mr. Binh also expanded into real estate when he established Nextland Real Estate Investment and Trading Company Limited in February 2021, with a charter capital of 20 billion VND. After just over a year, the real estate company's capital has increased to hundreds of billions of VND.

NextTech's website currently has no cryptocurrency-related products, but in 2021, the ecosystem heavily promoted the blockchain sector.

In 2021, Mr. Binh announced a $2.5 million investment in the AntEx blockchain project through the Next100Blockchain fund and took on the role of strategic advisor. However, the AntEx token quickly plummeted, losing up to 99% of its value, and its website and official media channels also stopped operating.

In March 2023, AntEx changed its name to Rabbit (RAB), but the new token is still down more than 95% from its peak. The project is currently under police investigation.

Regarding Shark Binh personally, with a series of startup investment deals, in his latest share, he surprisingly said that he invests more in stocks than startups.

He once shared that he only invested in small amounts when he found a good startup. In the meantime, idle capital must be invested in more legitimate and safer channels. Therefore, in terms of the amount of money, he invested in other investment channels will be higher than startups, sometimes using the profits from these quick investment channels to get money to reinvest in startups.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/nhung-thuong-vu-cua-shark-binh-o-be-ca-map-20251012155932774.htm