Ms. Le Diep Kieu Trang's project in Ho Chi Minh City's Industrial Park has yet to be fully funded and cannot show the number of products produced and revenue. This million-dollar project has liquidated the factory since the end of 2022.
On the afternoon of July 20, the Head of the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park (SHTP), Mr. Nguyen Anh Thi, had a specific message about the project "Manufacturing 3D printers and software services, product manufacturing services on 3D printers using carbon fiber polymer materials" of Arevo Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Arevo Company).

According to Mr. Thi, the project has a total investment capital of 19.5 million USD. The factory rental project will be implemented at Factory No. 02, Lot I-3B-1, N6 road, Hi-tech Park, Tan Phu Ward, Thu Duc City.

By the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, the project's total investment capital is 7 million USD, of which the contributed capital is 1 million USD, and the loan capital is 6 million USD. From the first quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024, investors are expected to contribute an additional 12.5 million USD.

Regarding the project implementation, from the second quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2022, the project will be operated at 100% capacity in phase 1, expected to reach about 2,812 products/year with a revenue of USD 6,337 million/year.

By 2025, the project will operate stably at 100% capacity, expected to reach 4,020 product units/year and revenue of 12,003 million USD/year.

Products provided in phase 1 (2020-2022) are Aqua 3D printers using Polymer carbon fiber, design and simulation software (Xplorator); Phase 2 (2023-2025) is Polymer-based carbon fiber materials (PEEK, Nylon...) for 3D printing, 3D printing service from carbon fiber.

Mr. Sonny Vu at an international event in November 2022. (Photo: Arevo)

By May 15, Arevo Company had a dossier announcing the termination of the project. The company explained the total realized investment capital is 165.59 billion dongs, accounting for 35.9% of the total registered investment capital. Contributed capital is 23,033 billion VND (equivalent to 1 million USD) contributed by Arevo INC, and mobilized capital is 142.56 billion VND (equivalent to 6 million USD) by investor Arevo INC.

The company has installed the necessary machinery, and the operation inspection has also been carried out, ensuring the factory is eligible to operate in the first quarter of 2021.

The company has also produced successful 3D printers and sold the printers in batches from time to time. Xplorateor software technology (Design, simulation, printer control) is fully developed and integrated with 3D printers when sold to customers.

However, the production of polymer-based carbon fiber materials (PEEK, Nylon...) for 3D printing has yet to be implemented; 3D printing service from carbon fiber has yet to be implemented. Notably, Arevo Company liquidated the factory lease contract on December 9, 2022.

According to SHTP, the project has not yet fully contributed the total investment capital of 19.5 million USD according to the Investment Registration Certificate, and Arevo Company has not implemented the project at the registered investment location from December 9, 2022, before the end of phase 1 of the project.

Along with that, Arevo Company failed to put the Phase 1 factory into operation at full capacity as committed in the Investment Registration Certificate and could not show the number of products produced as well as the revenue that could be achieved as committed in the Investment Registration Certificate, leading to the difficult project to continue to phase 2, which must be terminated from May 15, 2023.

Le Diep Kieu Trang, a former CEO of Facebook Vietnam, and her husband, Mr. Sonny Vu, established Arevo Vietnam Company. This company once informed about a project to produce bicycles using 3D printing technology, the first monolithic carbon fiber bike called SuperStrata. The project promotes itself that, with 3D printing technology, and ultra-light carbon fiber material, the car weighs only nearly 1.3 kg, designed and manufactured according to the needs of users.

More specifically, Ms. Trang introduced each Superstrata bike as seamlessly 3D printed to get used to each person's image and way of cycling. Each frame will be made to fit each person, whether short or tall. Bicycles are manufactured using laser and robotic technology, operated by a team of creative specialists, creating the world's first monolithic carbon fiber bicycle frame.

That is, no screws, connections or glue, just a block of industry-standard carbon fiber made of the best synthetic compound of any bike on the market. The chassis is so light that it's lighter than two water bottles.

However, over the past time, when put into practical use, the SuperStrata bike product has received many complaints about its quality. The customer informed us that the car was delivered many months late; It was ordered for thousands of dollars, but when receiving the new car, it was discovered that the vehicle's materials needed to be more committed, the car details were poorly processed, and even unsafe. When consumers complained to the manufacturer, they only received silence, no clear explanation.

According to the introduction on the website, Superstrata, the world's first monolithic carbon fiber bike, is a product using Arevo's 3D printing technology. This car product was called for investment on Indiegogo; within the first 24 hours, sales reached 1 million USD, and within 3 months, reached 7.5 million USD.

Read more: Before Le Diep Kieu Trang, which startups were once very famous with CEOs with a reputation profile and millions of dollars in capital but failed?

Indiegogo locks down Mr. Sonny Vu's Scotsman All-Carbon Fiber fundraising campaign

The nearly $20 million project of the Vietnamese 3D-printer bike closed