HCMC eyes spot as Southeast Asia startup hub

HCMC eyes spot as Southeast Asia startup hub

Entrepreneurs gather at a startup event in Ho Chi Minh City in December 2020. Photo by VnExpress.

Expand access to Ventures Capital

Ho Chi Minh City, Government have approved a plan to inspirit 1,000 startups program by 2025 as part of efforts to become a Southeast Asian Innovation Hub.

Its plan allow 3,000 enterprises to improve their innovation capacity and support 100 businesses access Ventures Capital (VC).

In the first half of 2020, Vietnam held 16 percent of total investment in tech, fintech startups in Southeast Asia, ranked 3rd behind only Singapore <37 percent> and Indonesia <30 percent>, in The Report of Ho Chi Minh City-based venture capital firm (VCs firm) Do Ventures.

HCMC aims to achieve these targets by expanding infrastructure and startup ecosystem that will help startups enhance their productivity, develop higher-quality products and go international.

It helped 650 - 700 enterprises a year to improve their innovation capacity in 2016 - 2020.

HCMC Startup Huge: Yes or No

According to Ranking by StartupBlink, a global comprehensive startup ecosystem map and research center: Last year Vietnam moved up 13 places to 59th out of 100 economics with the best startup ecosystems.

Robert Tran, CEO of consulting firm RBNC for North America and the Asia Pacific, said Vietnam has the potential to become a startup hub thanks to a large number of good entrepreneurship ideas that could be expanded globally.

Vietnam has a population large enough for startups to experiment locally first before branching out internationally, he told local media. The success rate of startups is however only around 3 percent as many of them are not able to clearly identify their enterprise goals, lack strategic vision; he said.

Vietnam needs to perfect its legal framework to ensure protection for investors, VCs and provide more practical assistance to startups, he added.