Will Going Public Be Enough To Save Vinfast From Ongoing Negative Reviews?

David Shultz

David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.

Will Going Public Be Enough To Save Vinfast From Ongoing Negative Reviews?
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Vinfast, the Vietnamese electric vehicle company operating out of Los Angeles, announced Friday that it would go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a deal valued at $27 billion. The company has been talking about going public in the United States for months now, and the massive valuation would make this the third largest SPAC deal ever, according to Bloomberg. Whether or not the merger with Hong Kong-based Black Spade Acquisition Co. is worth the price remains to be seen. But the news comes amid a torrent of negative reviews panning the company’s first electric vehicle for sale in the United States, the VF 8.


While dot.LA has not had the opportunity to demo the car (if you’re reading, we’d love to, Vinfast), the word around the web is brutally negative.

“The VF8, as it sits, is not ready for public consumption. Once word of these problems gets around, either from reviews like this one or owners or both, it's going to savage the company's reputation in America before anyone here has even heard of it.”

-MotorTrend

“the 2023 VinFast VF8 City Edition is simply not ready for prime time against the segment’s best.”

-Car_Revs_Daily

“No way in hell would I ever recommend the VF8 over an Ioniq 5, let alone any other new EV.”

-InsideEVs

“VinFast has already begun customer deliveries, which is an amazing feat. In order to pull it off, though, the company released a product that feels unfinished and embarrassing.”

-Road & Track

“Why Vinfast is intent on rushing this car to market is beyond me. If it would just slow down a bit, take the time to fix the problems we all experienced, it might actually have a decent car. As it stands now, the VF 8 City Edition will do nothing except earn Vinfast a bad reputation, one that might take decades to shake.”

-Green Car Reports

“As the first model to come to America from VinFast, the VF 8 has a lot riding on its success. Based on the vehicle I drove, they may still have some work to do.”

-JD Power

The list goes on…

While many reviewers did take the time to praise the car’s styling and paint, others reported various elements of the vehicles simply didn’t work. The Green Car Reports reviewer said that in the model they tested, none of the driver safety features worked, including “blind-spot monitors, automatic emergency braking, traffic sign recognition, active lane control.” Scott Evans at MotorTrend, reported that both the HVAC system and the built in navigation didn’t work in his demo car. Steve Ewing at InsideEVs, said the suspension was so bad that he got car sick for the first time in his life.

For a new and untested foreign brand trying to make a good first impression, reviews like these are likely to become a major obstacle. dot.LA has written previously about how VF 8’s meager specs don’t justify it’s $49,000+ price tag, but with the reviews coming in now it seems the only thing the car has going for it, is its excellent 10-year, 125,000-mile warranty. A selling point that drivers might be forced to use more than they’d like to.

The good news for Vinfast is that between its billionaire backer Phạm Nhật Vượng, and the new SPAC cash, the company should have deep enough pockets to buy some time to right the ship. That said, the VF 8’s flop certainly makes a comeback an uphill battle. If Vinfast wants to excel in the States, it will likely need to make major improvements for its next models, the VF 6 and VF 7, which are expected to go on sale in 2024.

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LA Tech Week 2024: Tuesday’s Event Lineup
tech-week

Here’s the Tuesday, October 15 lineup for LA Tech Week 2024, organized by location so you can easily explore events that fit your goals and schedule. Dive in and see what’s happening near you!


BEL AIR

5:00 PM

Andrew Yeung, Blindspot

Elevate Members

8:00 PM

Andrew Yeung, Blindspot

BEVERLY HILLS

8:00 AM

Scrappy

9:00 AM

  • Operators Meet Up (Invite Only)

Halogen Ventures

5:00 PM

Plug and Play, 2045, Studio by Tishman Speyer, Breaking Bread

6:00 PM

VCPE GROUPS, ENTREPRENEUR.VC

Stellenium, MyBrand Global, Project Sanctuary

Ayana foundation, Cherub

Matey, Inc.

Mission Matters, Destination Luxury

BRENTWOOD

9:00 AM

75 & Sunny, Fika, Navitas

3:00 PM

Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs of Socal

CARSON

12:00 PM

J.P. Morgan, Cooley, CAA, Porsche

CENTURY CITY

12:00 PM

Entrepreneur Ventures, VCPE Groups, CAA (Creative Artists Agency)

CULVER CITY

9:00 AM

Intersections LA

3:00 PM

AWS for Startups

5:30 PM

Techstars, Saywise

EL SEGUNDO

11:00 AM

Calibrate Ventures, Advaita Capital, ACME VC, Techstars

4:00 PM

  • Blowouts for Builders: Honoring Women in Hard Tech (Invite Only)

First Resonance

CX2 Inc.

5:00 PM

  • American Dynamism (Invite Only)

HOLLYWOOD

10:00 AM

Community Pros of Los Angeles

1:00 PM

Communia

LONG BEACH

2:00 PM

Our Generation Cares

6:00 PM

  • AI for Technology Enabled Autism Providers Happy Hour (Invite Only)

SpectrumAi, LEARN Behavioral

MALIBU

10:00 AM

Goldhirsh Foundation, LA2050, Creative Visions

MARINA DEL REY

11:00 AM

DMK Engineering, Inc., Digital Law Group, PLLC

3:00 PM

USC, Information Sciences Institute (ISI)

PLAYA DEL REY

8:00 AM

AI LA

PLAYA VISTA

8:30 AM

  • AI in Action: Redefining the Digital Content Lifecycle in Media + Entertainment :See Details Here

Sprockit, Verizon Innovation Lab

Google

6:30 PM

  • Trends in Building and Investing: Data, AI and the Future Internet Economy :See Details Here

Everi AI, Five Two Five VC

SANTA MONICA

7:00 AM

Founder Common, Founders Run Club

8:00 AM

Just Go Grind

8:30 AM

  • Brewing Connections: Coffee + Alfajores Networking Breakfast for Founders at Seed Stage :See Details Here

Braintly, Alt-Black

Upfront Ventures, Brex

9:00 AM

Mercato Partners

Dialpad

Garden Labs

Deel, Alumni Ventures, TeamTailor

M13

LendTech, Two to Twenty, The Artemis Fund, Orrick

9:30 AM

Mucker Capital

Qapita, Remofirst, Commenda

10:00 AM

a16z, Fenwick

The FutureList, Global Venture Network

USC Marshall Grief Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

Cherry Hill Advisory

11:00 AM

Liz Shows

  • Business Value - Measure, Create, & Retain (Invite Only)

Objective IBV

  • Transactional Trends & FinTech Transformation: Overcoming Payment Threats in a Post-COVID Marketplace (Invite Only)

Chargebacks911

Next Stage Trajectory

12:00 PM

SSM

  • Scaling Hardware: From Concept to Market - A Lunch Panel for Industry Leaders :See Details Here

SEACOMP, Conduit Venture Labs, AJProTech

FusionAuth, Global Venture Network

1:00 PM

Kiva AI

Cherry Hill Advisory

2:00 PM

Morrow, Global Venture Network

Le Club, Blueprints AI

Spartacus.app

2:30 PM

  • From London to #LATechWeek: What makes a world-class innovation hub with Snap, Universal Music, BAM Ventures, and OnePlan :See Details Here

London & Partners, RSM

3:00 PM

SEACOMP, Conduit Venture Labs, AJProTech

  • Venture Financing and Alternative Forms of Financing: What Startups Need to Know :See Details Here

SSM Law

Startup Village, Sigma Eta Pi, UCLA

Venturous Counsel

3:30 PM

J.P. Morgan

Two Bear Capital, Binarly, CIQ

HereWefranch.com, Early Adopters Community

  • LinkedIn Marketing Exec Roundtable: Insights and Strategies for Engaging SaaS Buyers :See Details Here

LinkedIn

4:00 PM

NachoNacho, Kalungi, GLASS

  • Beyond the AI Buzz - Crafting Equitable Workplaces in the Digital Age :See Details Here

Margins, Open Venture Capital

  • Tech Trends Deep Dive: Innovation, Culture and Trust (Invite Only)

Edelman

  • What Founders Need to Know About 2D Barcodes and the Future of Transparency :See Details Here

GS1US, Global Venture Network

Bump, Capitalize VC, H/L Ventures, Trapital Ventures, Select Management Group, Symphonic Capital, Popstar Ventures

4:30 PM

Expert DOJO

5:00 PM

Nuleep Inc., Asians in Energy City of Irvine

OpenSphere.ai

  • Golden Hour with Gold House (Invite Only)

Gold House, Microsoft, Silicon Valley Bank

Golfjoy

SimpleClosure, Cooley, Cambrian Ventures

5:30 PM

Lenny's Community

OCV Partners, Hyperlink Ventures, Mucker Capital, HSBC

Plantologist

MaC Venture Capital, Generation Space, Fenwick

6:00 PM

Stripe

Entre, WeWork, Fidelity

Republic

Stubbs Alderton, Markiles Preccelerator

Clay

Alt-Black

  • GenAI for the Entertainment Industry Dinner (Invite Only)

A16z

  • SVB at LA Tech Week 2024 (Invite Only)

Silicon Valley Bank

MLOps Community, Databricks

Pragma, AWS, Hathora, Mod.io, Unity

ReMatter, Zuma.AI

Tech Pitch Roast Comedy LLC

Draper University

Crosscut Ventures, Wilson Sonsini, Juniper Square

Leave a Mark

No Pressure Networking, All in All

6:30 PM

No Pressure Networking, All in All

Olympian Motors, Inc

ElevenLabs

7:00 PM

How&How, Cashapp, FNDR, Patagonia

Pearpop

Camino5

Callista Media, Viecolo

AI Wave

7:30 PM

Los Angeles Fun Events

SUNSET

5:30 PM

D-Line Summit (A Deep Tech Summit)

  • TORRANCE

5:30 PM

  • Grow Your Legal Practice With AI Personas: A Personal AI Hands-On Workshop :See Details Here

Personal AI, The Simon Law Group Justice Team

USC

5:30 PM

Untapped Ventures, USC School of Advanced Computing, AI LA, Embark Ventures

VENICE

8:00 AM

Science

J.P. Morgan Startup Banking

8:30 AM

Richie Knows, NAMI Westside Los Angeles

9:00 AM

Perkins Coie

9:30 AM

Riot Ventures, Space VC, Stifel Bank

11:00 AM

  • The Art of Building Buzz and Community on Social Media with 3 Top Brands :See Details Here

BrandBastion

12:00 PM

J.P. Morgan

4:30 PM

Harbor

5:00 PM

J.P. Morgan, Intuit Ventures, TOOLBX

  • Accelerating Innovation: The Role of Venture Studios and Accelerators in the LA Startup Ecosystem :See Details Here

Reitler

5:30 PM

Ellevoy

6:00 PM

  • Scaling Success: Tech, Marketing, & Leadership Synergy Happy Hour :See Details Here

1Above Tech, Venture Ahead

Fenwick, Toku

7:00 PM

NGL

8:00 PM

Dropbox, 99VC

WEST HOLLYWOOD

10:00 AM

RJR Partners, Talk Shop Media

12:00 PM

AWSM SCTY, Grid110

7:00 PM

Hyphah

WESTSIDE

7:00 PM

AltiamCX, Ruckus

WESTWOOD

2:00 PM

IFC Global, APSDG, UCLA School of Engineering

TCA Los Angeles, UCLA Anderson

4:00 PM

WeAreLATech.com, LiveBash.com

WINDSOR HILLS

8:00 AM

Slauson& Co

For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.

Enjoy LA Tech Week 2024!

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LA Tech Week 2024: Monday’s Event Lineup
tech-week

LA Tech Week 2024 kicks off on Monday, October 14, with a packed schedule of events spread across Los Angeles. This opening day offers founders, investors, creatives, and tech enthusiasts endless opportunities to connect, learn, and collaborate. From early morning fitness sessions to afternoon workshops and evening socials, Monday’s diverse programming sets the stage for an impactful week. Below is the schedule organized by location, so you can easily find the events that match your goals and availability.

BEVERLY HILLS

7:00 AM

Andrew Yeung, Blindspot

8:00 AM

Scrappy

9:00 AM

TechWalk, Qapita

12:00 PM

VCPE GROUPS, Entrepreneur.VC

2:00 PM

  • Future of Farming: AI and Indigenous Collaboration for a Sustainable Food System : See Details Here

Celebration Nation Inc

7:00 PM

LightDAO, Mission Matters

CENTURY CITY

6:00 PM

  • KOSME-LAVA Demo Day (Invite Only)

Los Angeles Venture Association

CULVER CITY

9:00 AM

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Intersections LA

1:00 PM

  • Networking for Underrepresented Founders - Optimize your networking savviness, and have fun along the way : See Details Here

AWS Startups

2:30 PM

AWS

3:00 PM

Family Offices Investors Summit, Sandbox, Soulbound, KIKI, Babylon Voice, CryptoHQ Fund

DTLA

7:00 AM

  • Tech Runs (Invite Only)

Crosscourt

EL SEGUNDO

6:00 PM

Stonegardens Advisory, Demand Signal Ventures

HOLLYWOOD

2:00 PM

  • Brand Positioning + Content Strategy Workshop (Invite Only)

Alpha Wolves Media

6:00 PM

LaFamilia Foundation (VCFamilia), Pivotal Ventures

INGLEWOOD

6:30 PM

  • UCLA Anderson Elevating Voices: A Pitch Competition & Networking Opportunity :See Details Here

Westwood

LONG BEACH

11:30 AM

Starburst Aerospace, Ampaire, Auriga Space, Long Beach Accelerator, Rebel Space, Sunset Ventures, Emerging LA

MALIBU

5:00 PM

Sunstone, Pepperdine University

6:00 PM

Wilshire Lane Capital

MAR VISTA

3:30 PM

Uthana

MARINA DEL REY

3:00 PM

USC, Information Sciences Institute

MID CITY

10:00 AM

The Growth Club

PASADENA

1:00 PM

Emerging LA, Sunset Ventures

5:00 PM

AI LA

PLAYA DEL REY

8:00 AM

AI LA

SANTA MONICA

7:00 AM

PitchandRunLA, Global Venture Network

8:00 AM

Fortify Ventures

8:30 AM

Ganas Ventures

9:00 AM

Tech Breakfast Club

A16z

10:00 AM

Clutch Talent

  • Santa Monica Innovation Hub: Technology Street Fair on Ocean Avenue :See Details Here

City of Santa Monica, StartupStarter, Inc., Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM)

  • Sip & Scale (Invite Only)

AMP Beauty

10:30 AM

Socialtrait Inc

11:00 AM

Mucker Capital, LeadrPro, JP Morgan, K&L Gates

12:00 PM

Global Venture Network, GS1US, The FutureList, FusionAuth

1:00 PM

Cherry Hill Advisory, Crescent

1:30 PM

Charlie Financial, Aprime Technology

4:00 PM

Nathan Family Office

Artium AI, Freeplay, Silicon Valley Bank

Sidebar Summit, Redwood Collective

4:30 PM

HIRECLOUT

5:00 PM

Los Angeles Fun Events

Orbis86

6:00 PM

ImaginingForward

PowerYou AI

Musa Capital

Hustle Fund

VCPE Groups, Entrepreneur Ventures

Hive

A16z

Tech Pitch Roast Comedy LLC

Human To Human

7:00 PM

Verve, M13, Stifel, WSGR

Frances Mendez, Ryan Edwards

VENICE

7:00 AM

Bankless Ventures

Powerful Stuff, Drybaby

8:00 AM

J.P. Morgan Startup Banking Team - LA

9:00 AM

Google

10:15 AM

Open Venture Capital, Empowered Yoga Venice, Oya Femtech Apparel, Wellness Growth Ventures

12:00 PM

J.P. Morgan Innovation Economy Team - LA

Crypto Mondays, Continuum, Female Funders Club

4:00 PM

J.P. Morgan, WICIF, MCJ

6:00 PM

Product Manager Association of Los Angeles

6:30 PM

HITMKR Inc., The Bushido Group, Mission Matters

VIRTUAL

8:30 AM

Clutch Talent

WESTLAKE VILLAGE

11:00 AM

Hub 101, Steven Dorfman Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, California Lutheran University

WESTSIDE

3:00 PM

MaC Venture Capital

  • Speaker Panel: Leveling the playing field - Removing the barriers to entry for developers :See Details Here

Elemental Computing Inc.

Each session provides unique opportunities to gain insights, network, and explore various fields of tech innovation. For updates or more event information, visit theofficial Tech Week calendar. Enjoy the start of LA Tech Week 2024!


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OpenAI's $6.6B Power Play: The Future of AI Just Got a Massive Boost 💰🚀
Image Source: Open AI - Sam Altman

🔦 Spotlight

OpenAI is making some exciting moves! The company just completed a massive $6.6 billion funding round, pushing its valuation to an impressive $157 billion. Thrive Capital led the charge, with big names like Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund also joining in. This investment will allow OpenAI to further scale its operations and advance AI technologies like GPT-4 across various sectors such as healthcare, entertainment, and business.

But that’s not the only exciting news. OpenAI has also secured an additional$1 billion credit facility, giving the company even more financial flexibility to execute its ambitious growth plans. This safety net ensures that OpenAI has the resources to scale safely and effectively while continuing to lead the AI space.

AI is becoming integral to industries worldwide, and OpenAI’s products—like ChatGPT—are seeing rapid adoption. From education to enterprise solutions, the company is driving significant advancements in how AI is integrated into everyday life.

Following Microsoft’s $10 billion investment earlier this year, this latest round underscores the market’s confidence in OpenAI’s potential. With its strong focus on responsible AI deployment and ethical scaling, the company is set to shape the future of AI in a way that benefits a broad range of industries and addresses global challenges.

As AI evolves, OpenAI remains dedicated to pushing boundaries while ensuring that its innovations prioritize safety, scalability, and social impact. Keep an eye on this space—big things are on the horizon!


🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

  • Impulse Space, a Redondo Beach-based company specializing in in-space transportation services, raised $150M in Series B funding led by Founders Fund, bringing its total funding to $225M, to expand its team and advance production of its Helios and Mira vehicles. - learn more
  • Nusano has secured over $115M in Series C financing, led by The Wasatch Group, to accelerate the commercialization of its radioisotope production technology, aimed at improving cancer treatment and medical diagnostics. - learn more
  • Future Trash, a multidisciplinary creative studio, has raised a $5M Seed funding round from TIRTA and General Catalyst to develop original intellectual property (IP) within Fortnite, focusing on building unique in-game content and experiences. - learn more
  • XType, the leading software company for multi-instance management on the ServiceNow platform, has raised a $21M Series A funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners to accelerate innovation and expand its platform capabilities on the ServiceNow platform. - learn more
  • 3Laws Robotics, a robotics company focused on building AI-powered platforms to enhance the safety, security, and operational efficiency of robotic systems, has raised a $4.1M Seed funding round led by TenOneTen Ventures. - learn more

LA Venture Funds
  • Watertower Ventures participated in the $8M Series A funding round for DocJuris, a leader in AI-based contract review and negotiation software that automates key tasks to streamline the contract process for enterprise teams and general counsels. - learn more
  • Progression Fund participated in a $3.7M Seed funding round for Permanent, a company focused on advancing sustainable agriculture by developing solutions that improve soil health and productivity. - learn more


LA Exits

  • Loom, an educational community platform that empowers women by providing comprehensive resources on reproductive health, sexual wellness, and parenting education, has been acquired by women's health brand Perelel, marking a significant expansion in the women's health and wellness sector. - learn more

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