Velaboost specializes in making accessories used for computers and smartphones. The startup obtained five MFi (Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod) certificates granted by Apple. It has successfully produced true wireless headphones that can meet APTX standards set by Qualcomm and has appeared on Qualcomm’s website.

According to Velaboost founder Le Hai Vu, the startup has developed 29 types of products and sold 24,500 products to the market with total revenue of VND6 billion and gross profit of VND2 billion.

Research & Market reported that over the last two years, about 17-18 million smartphones have been sold in Vietnam. It is also one of 10 markets with the fastest growing smartphone sales in the globe.

“Smartphone manufacturers are cutting off the production of chargers and headphones. So smartphone owners will have to buy chargers and headphones for use,” Vu said. 

The founder of Velaboost said eight years ago when he was a university student he ran a shop that sold BlackBerry phones. However, realizing that BlackBerry wouldn’t be able to compete with Apple, Samsung and Chinese products, he decided to shift to make tech accessories.

Vu decided to become a product developer with Apple’s standards under the MFi program and then outsource to factories in Apple’s supply chain to make products.

In late 2020 and early 2021, Velaboost launched its first product – the 18W fast charger meeting MFi standards. After five days, the startup sold 2,000 chargers and cables. Velaboost’s products are made in China and imported to Vietnam through official channels. The small products, such as cables, are made by Velaboost from A to Z.

Vu said there are two groups of chargers and cable products in the market. High-end products from large manufacturers such as Anker, Belkin and Morphie have very high prices. Meanwhile, low-cost products are from China and they don’t have certificates on quality.

So, the advantage of Velaboost is that it can provide high-quality products at reasonable prices. It has all the certificates larger firms have. Velaboost now has wholesale and retail products. The profit from retail is 50-70 percent, depending on the product, according to Vu.

Trong Dat