Luxstay before going to Shark Tank: Receiving an investment of 168 billion VND, working hard to “burn money” and calling for capital, founder still spent more than 42 billion VND to buy 36 VinFast cars

Luxstay, startup in the field of home-sharing (apartment and room sharing service – PV) is becoming the focus of public opinion after calling USD 6 million from Shark Hung, Shark Thuy and Shark Viet on Shark Tank. Vietnam. This turned Luxstay into the largest capital commitment in Shark Tank’s history to date, surpassing the record $ 1 million that Shark Hung proposed to pour into Mopo.

According to CEO Nguyen Van Dung (Steven), chartered capital of VND 68 billion, Luxstay had successfully called for 3 rounds of capital with a total value of VND 168 billion. There are currently 10 shareholders, founder Steve himself is holding 44% of the company.

In 2017, also the first year of establishment, the total transaction price on the Luxstay platform reached 300,000 USD. By 2018, this figure increased to 2.2 million USD and the first 6 months of this year was 1.7 million USD.

Although the number and value of transactions increased rapidly, in fact, in 2018, Luxstay “burn rate” (the amount spent on expenses before the positive cash flow) was VND 25 billion.

“The company is in the process of building and developing. There is still no profit. It is expected that by the middle of 2022, it will break even and by 2023, it will be profitable,” said 8x CEO.

However, the parameters shared by founder Nguyen Van Dung have made many people wonder about his “strong” spending and Luxstay a few months ago.

Specifically, in mid-March this year, when public opinion was focused on the event of launching the first commercial VinFast Lux in Vietnam, Luxstay’s 1989-born CEO immediately published the article on the fish page. announces the purchase of 36 VinFast cars with a total value of more than VND 42 billion.

The order includes 18 Lux SA2.0 SUVs and 18 Sedan Lux A2.0, with a deposit of VND 1.8 billion.

The reason that CEO Nguyen Van Dung made this decision partly lies in the product name, VinFast Lux (Lux stands for Luxury, meaning luxury) is the same meaning as the Luxstay brand that he is developing. A part comes from Luxstay’s plan to deploy more services in the future.

“It may not be official yet, but in the near future, Luxstay project will have more services, not only accommodation but also car rental or transportation. The number of ordered cars will become to become partners of my own project in the future, and it will be quite amazing when my service itself was born and started with a Vietnamese car line . “

Order to order VinFast on Adayroi by CEO Luxstay.

It is not clear whether the amount of more than 40 billion to buy VinFast cars will be deducted from Luxstay’s capital or by founder himself. But no matter where the capital comes from, the founder is willing to spend a considerable amount of money to purchase large quantities of assets such as cars, to serve an unclear plan at the time, causing many people to ask question marks for this move.

Shark Nguyen Manh Dung himself, in the first episode of Shark Tank season 3, admitted, Luxstay called not because of lack of money.

Affordable, Luxstay is too financially rich, or is this just a PR method “to follow” hot events?

“Today, Dung (founder) comes here to call for capital, not because the company has no money, but because we want to go faster to take more control. Only speed and pioneering are two factors that help. startup dominates the market, “ shark Dzung said.

However, the explanation of Shark Dung Nguyen, who is also a member of the Board, a strategic advisor of Luxstay is not enough to satisfy the discerning audience. On the fanpage of Shark Tank Vietnam community , there are many opinions that, with the capital potential above, Luxstay appeared only to PR brand and increase drama for the program. Because Shark Dzung was also an investor of Luxstay and the success of this deal was a great success to the word “insider”, Shark Dzung.