Category
- 🇻🇳 Vietnam
- 🎤 Event Review
Date of issue
May 30, 2025
1.
Startup pitch sessions
1.1 Turn Green
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Founded year: 2024
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Industry: Packaging and materials
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Product: Eco-friendly packaging made from 100% biodegradable, compostable and water soluble biopolymers
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Business model: B2B
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Traction: $2.7M revenue in 2024, serving major brands L'Oreal, Central Retail, Takashimaya, and Biti's
1.2 Polaris Edge
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Founded year: 2023
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Industry: Construction
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Product: One-stop digital solution to manage construction projects
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Business model: SaaS
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Traction: 6 new countries per year, 2 contracts of 10.000 USD per month per country, 70% retention after each year of subscription
1.3 TeenUp
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Founded year: 2023
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Industry: Edutech + Wellness
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Product: Tech-enabled wellness and training platform for teens, including life skills education, coaching & therapy, offline clinics/care hubs (planned), wellness retail marketplace (planned)
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Business model: Direct to consumers (D2C), School adoption (B2B2C), Community-led growth
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Traction: $830K revenue in 2024, 1500+ paying users (TeenCare), 51.7% retention rate (60-day)
1.4 QSee.ai
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Founded in 2025
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Industry: Apparel
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Solution: Turn smartphone into an inspection device to detect flaws in apparel
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Business model: Monthly SaaS fee per station ($299), Onboarding fees per use case
1.5 Xinchao Science Ed
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Founded in 2019
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Industry: Edutech
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Product: Steam Hub - Online digital STEAM course for students from 3-18 years old
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Business model: Platform subscription & extra class model (B2B) ($96K/school/year), Charge per course model (B2C) ($30-50/course)
1.6 Houseoftech
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Founded in 2025
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Industry: Real estate
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Product: Civitas - A business intelligence platform that generates feasibility reports for investment evaluation by aggregating public and private real estate data
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Business model: SaaS ($499/month), API access, custom modules or reports
1.7 Cotalent
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Founded year: 2023
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Industry: HRTech
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Product: SmartScore - scoring model that evaluates a candidate on three dimensions: alignment, performance and compatibility
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Business model: Pay-per-interview model
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Traction: 6 acquired clients, 120M+ VND in revenue
1.8 Vietaime
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Founded year: 2023
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Industry: BioTech
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Product: Cultivation of microalgae as feed in aquaculture using innovative photobioreactors
2.
Fintech/Crypto
Keynote: Vietnam - The thriving financial hub on the rise * Main takeaways
✅ Four major political resolutions structuring a new economic era
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Resolution 57: Innovation and digitalization
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Resolution 59: Global integration
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Resolution 66: Renovation of lawmaking and law enforcement
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Resolution 68: Unleashing entrepreneurial dynamism
✅ Meteoric rise of fintech in Vietnam: 200M payment accounts, 17B cashless transactions, 9.1M mobile money accounts
✅ The rise of blockchain in Vietnam
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Establishment of Vietnam Blockchain Association (April 2022)
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Approval of National Blockchain Strategy (Oct 2024)
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One Mount's investment in building Blockchain Layer 1 network (Jan 2025)
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Launch of 1Matrix (May 2025)
✅ Financial centers and attractive incentives
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Pilot financial centers: Ho Chi Minh City (international financial center) and Da Nang (regional financial center)
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Tax advantages: Corporate income tax exemption for 2 years, then a 50% reduction for 4 years; For priority sectors: 10% CIT rate for the entire project duration
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Visa facilities: Multiple-entry visas for expatriates and their families; Possibility of obtaining a limited-term resident status
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Adapted regulations: Flexible regulatory framework through sectoral sandboxes; Simplified procedures and reduced administrative delays
Panel discussions: Digital identity, payments & innovation: Building a secure and inclusive financial future? * Main takeaways
✅ Digital identity & security
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Digital identity is the tech link between real-world humans and digital actions
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As scams and deepfakes rise, securing a digital identity is essential to prevent fraud.
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Most attacks happen at the interaction layer (eg, user wallets, admin control)
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Solution: automation, stronger transaction verification, open-source innovation, etc.
✅ Banking & payments infrastructure
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Bank: balance innovation and regulation, focus on instant, no-fee payment systems, and collaborate with fintechs
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NAPAS: has supported banks and fintechs for over 20 years; their role is neutral infrastructure, enabling interoperability between traditional and new players; emphasis on keeping transaction fees among the lowest globally
✅ Regulation & innovation
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Vietnam's regulatory framework is still nascent compared to Dubai, Singapore, or the EU
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Several sandbox initiatives are underway, but implementation is slow
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Key focus areas include accelerating sandbox adoption, establishing robust anti-money laundering (AML) mechanisms, and supporting tokenization and blockchain testing environments to attract global investment.
✅ The panelists envision a blockchain-based economic infrastructure, where:
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Assets are tokenized, allowing instant loans, transparent ownership, and programmable finance
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AI may automate financial management, with blockchain serving as the “ground truth” of who owns what
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Vietnam must focus on becoming globally competitive through policy innovation, digital identity systems, and investor-friendly regulation.
3.
Gaming/Entertainment
Panel discussions: Local talent: How to identify, support and retain creative and technical minds * Main takeaways
✅ Companies are shifting from hiring primarily programmers to seeking designers, product managers, and creative professionals → Require a more diverse talent pool
✅ Talent challenges
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Language proficiency and soft skills remain major barriers for Vietnamese talent aiming to work on global projects
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Misconceptions about gaming as a trivial field need to be corrected; it is a serious industry with vast potential.
✅ Talent development approaches
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Provide meaningful, challenging projects with full local ownership and exposure to end-to-end project cycles
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Bridge the gap between education and industry through initiatives such as internships, mentorships and curriculum input → align university output with industry needs.
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Run structured mentorship programs and training initiatives inside companies to accelerate both technical (eg, software, game engines) and soft skills (eg, leadership, collaboration)
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Provide clear career paths and specialization options (eg, narrative design, system development)
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Build a strong and attractive workplace culture
✅ Conclusion
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While foreign experts play a key role, the goal is to upskill and empower local talent
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Vietnam is emerging as a hub for creative tech, and efforts should align with global standards without undermining local growth.
4.
Investment/Venture Capital
Key note: Impact investing in Vietnam * Main takeaways
✅ Opportunities
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Massive emissions reduction potential: Vietnam emitted over 334 million tonnes of CO2 in 2023, with energy, industry processes, transport, and agriculture as top contributors
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Multi-trillion net-zero investment opportunity: According to BloombergNEF Net Zero Scenario, achieving net-zero by 2050 requires $2.4 trillion in investments across 2024 to 2050
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Government commitment to clean energy: Strong policy support with Vietnam's PDP VIII targeting 28-36% renewable energy share by 2030.
✅ Challenges
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Fragmented market & regulatory complexity
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Lack of early-stage climate investment
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Talent gap
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Panel discussions: Is Vietnam the next hot spot for investment or a promise yet to be fulfilled? * Main takeaways
✅ Key challenges facing Vietnam’s investment landscape
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Vietnam has many startups, but few have sustainable, scalable business models
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There is a scarcity of high-level financial and operational talent
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Limited exits and underdeveloped capital markets hinder investment flows
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Complex and slow regulatory approval processes, especially for M&A and foreign investment, delay deal closures.
✅ Opportunities and strengths
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Vietnam's youth are digitally fluent and driven, offering substantial potential for tech-driven innovation.
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Vietnam's tech ecosystem has grown rapidly, with an increasing number of startups, particularly in AI and software.
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Many startups are headquartered abroad (eg, Singapore) but operate technically from Vietnam due to cost and talent advantages.
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High industrial energy consumption creates an opportunity for renewable and energy-efficient solutions.
✅ Venture capital landscape
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VC activity dipped by ~60% in recent years, but average deal sizes are up, showing selectivity and cautious optimism.
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Most activity has centered on early-stage funding, although there is a growing need for later-stage support and exits.
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Vietnam's VC trends mirror global shifts, from growth-at-all-costs to profitability and sustainable scaling.
✅ Advice to startups and investors
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Start early, be prepared: Engage investors before urgent need arises; regulatory and bank processes take time
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Vietnam is full of potential: despite external inefficiencies, insiders find significant utility and untapped opportunity
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Invest in fundamentals: Emphasize strong technology, market timing, and clear competitive advantages
On-site photos | Source: The Invention Lab
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