According to the “Vietnam’s ecosystem for technology startups” report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Vietnam is creating the necessary conditions to build its next generation of tech unicorns.

The report said that Asia-Pacific’s next tech unicorn may well come from Vietnam. The Vietnamese Government’s long-term goal in this regard is to attract knowledge, organizations, individuals, and entrepreneurs to contribute to economic development and participate in the creation of startups.

One example of government assistance is the “Supporting the national innovation startup ecosystem to 2025” project (Project 844), approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 844/QD-TTg and with the goal of developing 600 startups by 2025, 100 of which will raise capital of at least VND2 trillion ($85.5 million).

According to Ms. Aimee Hampel-Milagrosa, an economist in the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department at the ADB, the Vietnamese Government recognizes that tech startups are a new engine of growth for the country.

In 2021, the top five startup sectors in capital attraction were financial technology (fintech), with 26.6 per cent, e-commerce, with 20.3 per cent, education technology (edtech), with 17.2 per cent, healthtech, with 7.8 per cent, and service software, with 6.3 per cent.

In order to facilitate growth, the government has begun to assemble key elements such as financial and policy incentives to create and build the next generation of “unicorns”. Universities and research institutes in the country are also coordinating with provincial governments and central ministries and sectors to establish startup support units.