Vietnam: capital investments in technology startups 2021

In 2021, the capital investment in tech startups in Vietnam reached a record-high value of over 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, indicating a strong recovery compared to the investment value in 2020. The value of tech investment decreased sharply due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Vietnam as an emerging startup nation

As of 2022, there were 3.8 thousand startups operating in Vietnam, with 11 having a valuation of at least 100 million U.S. dollars and four being classified as unicorn startups. The growth of this sector has also been characterized by the increasing number of startup investment deals, the growing number of large deals, and the increase in the number of funds invested in the country. While fintech and e-commerce startups have long been in the investors’ spotlight, Vietnam has recently emerged as a blockchain startup hotspot, with over a thousand startup projects, including a unicorn working in blockchain tech.

Vietnamese unicorn startups

In 2014, VNG, a Vietnamese startup, was valued at over one billion U.S. dollars, making it the first startup to reach unicorn status in Vietnam, and the second in Southeast Asia. VNG owns Zalo, Vietnam’s leading social messaging app, which has been the second most popular social media channel in the country after Facebook. Since then, three more startups from Vietnam have achieved the same title. The two fintech unicorns MoMo and VNLife are behind the leading digital payment services in Vietnam, while Sky Marvis is the country’s first blockchain unicorn, specializing in publishing decentralized games and ecosystems.