Valerie Van Vu is the founding partner of Ansible Ventures, a dedicated pre-seed and seed venture capital firm that invests in startups in the trenches from the outset as a trusted co-founder.

Before founding Ansible, she was Head of Vietnam Investments for Venturra Capital and Senior Consultant at Deloitte US. Outside of work, she's passionate about education and youth mentoring.

👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

Let's imagine that every startup idea is a seed. I help plant the seeds, nurture them with entrepreneurs, and give them the right resources to empower them to grow bigger trees.

🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

Some surprising facts about me:

1. Despite being an introvert, I am an aspiring content creator. I just launched a podcast called Forward Vietnam with a group of close friends to discuss in-depth about business.

2. I love learning new languages! Besides being a native Vietnamese speaker, I can also speak French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.

3. I'm a coffee connoisseur, but I haven't invested in any coffee startups yet.

🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

I only very recently started fundraising and launched Ansible Ventures. If my younger self knew that she'd later receive help from the best mentors and have the courage to pursue her most audacious dream, she would be shocked.

🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

My focus for SEA and Vietnam is definitely fintech and e-commerce, especially direct-to-consumer. The landscape of local brands from Vietnam still lacks diversity and storytelling. Yet, consumer demand for brands that suit their preferences is growing faster than ever.

Regarding the global startup ecosystem, I expect investment activities in Web3, especially DeFi will continue to rise. I'm also excited to watch health tech startups as AI for healthcare is no longer a buzzword, and there are promising products emerging from it.

💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

Venture investment requires long-term vision and patience. It's very hard to know how well you're really doing as a venture capitalist because of super long and noisy feedback loops. Therefore, I would recommend having a clear and strong mission why you choose venture capital as a career before starting out.

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

Anthropology, travel and, of course, startups!

🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Coffee!