Vietnam’s climate tech startups faced a stark funding void in 2025, with no investment deals recorded between $350,000 and $1 million—a range that saw four deals in 2024—even as total sector funding dropped 52% to $49.86 million across 33 deals, Tuoi Tre reported.
The decline from $104.2 million across 60 deals in 2024 was driven largely by the absence of a mega-round comparable to Techcoop’s $70 million Series A in 2024. Excluding the largest deal in each year, funding fell by just 19%, from $34.2 million to $27.86 million.
Women Founders Capture 56% of Grants but 1.7% of Investment Capital
The funding gap hits women-founded enterprises hardest. Although they account for 33% of active climate tech businesses and received 56% of total grant funding in 2025, they secured just 1.7% of the sector’s overall investment capital, according to the Vietnam Climate Tech Ecosystem Report 2026 series.
The disparity partly reflects sector concentration: women-founded firms cluster in agriculture, food production, and the circular economy, where average deal sizes range from $44,000 to $77,000, compared with $3.82 million to $7.35 million in energy and mobility. None of the 22 enterprises surveyed had secured a green loan from a domestic bank, as bank lending relies heavily on collateral rather than business performance.
Tran Thi Phuong Thao, country director of New Energy Nexus Vietnam, said investors had indicated funding was available while founders were eager to raise capital. Still, she observed, not a single transaction occurred in the $350,000-to-$1 million bracket during 2025, which she characterized as a pivotal phase for companies moving from grant assistance to their initial significant commercial funding.
Techcoop’s $70 Million Round Skewed 2024 Totals
The 2024 figures were inflated by Techcoop’s $70 million Series A funding round, which accounted for the majority of that year’s $104.2 million total. Without that single deal, 2024 funding stood at $34.2 million, making the year-over-year decline excluding outliers a more modest 19% drop to $27.86 million in 2025.
Investor interest remains evident despite the funding contraction. Among the 15 funders polled for the 2026 report, 10 possessed either a climate investment mandate focused specifically on Vietnam or were in the process of assessing potential opportunities. New funding providers from Japan, Singapore, Europe, and Taiwan also entered the market in 2025.
Researchers Urge Instruments Tailored to the $350,000 Gap
Addressing the “missing middle,” the report—a collaborative effort by New Energy Nexus Vietnam, SNV Vietnam, World University Service of Canada, and RMIT Vietnam, backed by the Swiss Entrepreneurship Program—advocates creating financial tools purpose-built for funding requirements of $350,000 to $1 million. Financial institutions are urged to recognize equipment and contracts as acceptable collateral and to adopt lending based on cash flow instead of depending mainly on land or property.
Vietnam introduced 29 policies related to climate action, investment, and innovation in 2025, but implementation guidelines, certification systems, and corresponding financial products are still being developed. Organizations supporting startups ought to create more defined routes for firms to move from grant funding to commercial capital, split due diligence expenses, and equip startups to satisfy investor criteria.
Beyond financing, workforce shortages compound the challenge: 73% of surveyed businesses ranked technical expertise among their top three workforce needs, while 50% identified it as the hardest talent category to recruit. According to Lindsay Umalla, head of energy at SNV Vietnam, money was flowing into the sector more rapidly than the labor pool could expand, and expanding operations demands additional seasoned experts possessing interdisciplinary expertise.
Vietnam Climate Tech Funding Questions
Why did Vietnam climate tech funding drop 52% in 2025? Total funding fell from $104.2 million across 60 deals in 2024 to $49.86 million across 33 deals in 2025. The sharp decline was largely due to Techcoop’s $70 million Series A round in 2024; excluding the largest deal each year, funding fell by just 19%.
What is the “missing middle” in climate startup funding? It is the gap between early-stage grants and first institutional investment rounds, specifically the $350,000 to $1 million range. No deals were recorded in this range in 2025, compared with four deals in 2024.
Why can’t Vietnamese climate startups secure bank loans? None of the 22 enterprises surveyed had secured a green loan from a domestic bank because lending relies heavily on collateral rather than business performance, creating difficulties for startups with limited assets to pledge.
Whether the 29 policies introduced in 2025 will translate into the financial instruments and coordination needed to bridge the missing-middle funding gap remains the open question facing Vietnam’s climate tech sector.
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