The Vietnam Tech Investment report said that Vietnam in 2019 jumped from fourth among six ASEAN countries to third, just after Indonesia and Singapore, in terms of startup ecosystems.

Startups had the opportunity to call for capital in front of 20 leading investors in the region on Demo Day

However, Covid-19 has dealt a strong blow on Vietnam’s startups. Young businesses had just entered the market when they faced rapid changes in the investment environment and consumer demands.

Meanwhile, it has become more difficult to call for capital from investors amid the pandemic.

Austrade’s Vietnam Innovative Startup report pointed out five challenges that block Vietnam startup ecosystem’s way, namely access to financial sources; talent and management skills; fragmented ecosystem; R&D capability; and intellectual property rights.

Nguyen Thai Hai Van, CEO of Grab Vietnam, said at this time, calling for capital is one of the big challenges for Vietnam’s startups.

In fact, the challenge doesn’t lie in the lack of capital or the lack of interest by investors in the Vietnamese market. In 2019, the total capital injected into Vietnam’s technology startups for the first time exceeded capital in Singapore.

The real problem lies in the capability and vision of startup founders. They appear to be strong at finding business ideas, but lack skills to implement plans.

However, Van still can see the strength of Vietnam’s startups – creativity and the capability to learn quickly.

She said that technology and smart solutions such as AI application will be a trend that startups need to catch up with, once Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation in Vietnam.

Opportunities will open up for startups that can adapt to new conditions and have enough skills to overcome difficulties.

Amid the challenges and opportunities in the new normal, Vietnam has set a goal of creating 10 technology unicorns by 2030 and becoming a technology startup center of Southeast Asia.

To reach that goal, in addition to the government’s initiatives to nurture startups, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong said technology firms need to strengthen cooperation to help startups obtain more business opportunities and to jointly develop a national startup ecosystem.

Grab, a unicorn startup in Southeast Asia, has accelerated support for startups in early stages, through the Grab Ventures Ignite program with the participation of many strategic partners.

Thirteen selected startups participated in a mentoring program which lasted for 14 weeks with Grab’s leading partners and specialists. They had the opportunity to call for capital in front of 20 leading investors in the region on Demo Day on October 28 this year. The program found five winning projects, namely bePOS, Stringee, GoDee, Papaya and Vbee. 

Tuan Anh

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