ON THE COVER

S
outheast Asia’s tech startup scene is getting
hotter by the year. Money is pouring in
and valuations are soaring as investors bet
big on the region’s rapid growth, huge markets
and youthful, mobile-savvy consumers.
With so much at stake, cities from Singapore
to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City are competing to
become the next Silicon Valley -- home not only
to successful startups but also to the mentors,
investors and institutions that support them.
The Nikkei Asian Review looked at criteria
Akira Kodaka

Poladrone, founded in Penang, ranging from number of startups to cost of office

Malaysia, uses drones to monitor
and analyze forests and plantations.
space and selected the five cities below as the
hottest places for innovation in Southeast Asia.

Nikkei Asian Review - Special excerpt from Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2018 Print edition. Nikkei Inc. No reproduction without permission.

No. of tech startups:
4,300 tech startups as of 2016
Government support:
Programs providing equity funding,
preferential loans or R&D financing,
access to co-working space and
incubation facilities, tax breaks for
startups and investors,
preferential immigration policies for
foreign talent
Education/talent pool:
National University of Singapore,
ranked 11th in the 2019 QS World
University Rankings, Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore
Institute of Technology, Nanyang
Business School and Insead’s
Singapore campus
Access to funding:
Wide range of investors, including
individual angels, family office funds,
hedge funds, private-equity,
venture-capital; government
programs typically match
private-sector-led funding
Transportation:
Transportation infrastructure among
world’s best; Changi Airport less than
30 minutes by taxi from most
business, residential districts
Office rent:
$7.20 per sq. foot per month for
Grade A office in central business
district in July-September quarter,
according to JLL
SINGAPORE In early 2015, Sinuhe
Arroyo spotted a chance for his artifi-
cial intelligence startup to win a contract
with a government agency in Singapore.
But his colleagues warned him against it,
since their company, Taiger, though based
Singapore, was incorporated in Spain.
Arroyo, the company’s founder and
chief executive, pressed ahead any-
way -- and was pleasantly surprised
when Taiger became the first foreign
company to win a contract from the
Singaporean government.
ON THE COVER
Singapore’s blue Block 71 hosts
250 startups as well as 30
incubators and venture capitalists.
Akira Kodaka
“My colleagues had opposed ... bid-
ding, saying it would be a waste of time.
But I insisted Singapore is such a trans-
parent meritocracy that we have a chance
to win a contract if we have a convincing
technology. I was right,” recalls Arroyo.
The Taiger team had moved to
Singapore from the U.S. at the end of 2014
because they saw a less-cultivated, more
transparent and faster-growing business-
tech market in Asia.
In 2016, after receiving two more
government tenders, Taiger reincorpo-
rated in Singapore. The following year,
Singapore’s startup-backing agency
SGInnovate invested in Taiger in its first
fundraising round, alongside local private
equity firm Tembusu Partners.
Today Taiger is a darling of Singapore’s
AI startup scene. Its clients include such
global companies as AIA Group, Banco
Santander, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
and Standard Chartered. And Arroyo
advises government panels on national
AI strategies.
Long established as a financial center,
Singapore has become the leading startup
hub in Southeast Asia thanks to a mix of
ready capital and government policies.
According to Enterprise Singapore, the
number of startups in the city-state in-
creased from about 2,800 in 2003 to 4,300
in 2016. Venture capital funding jumped
from $80 million in 2010 to $1.2 billion in
2017, according to KPMG.
Singaporean venture capitalist Yinglan
Tan sees a “lifetime opportunity” in
his home country. He left Sequoia
Capital last year to found his own ven-
ture capital firm, Insignia Ventures
Partners, based in Singapore.
He sees plenty of room for growth,
noting that Southeast Asia’s total tech in-
dustry market cap is roughly $20 billion,
compared to $300 billion in India, where
the GDP per capita of $1,700 is less than
half of Southeast Asia’s $3,800. “Southeast
Asia’s tech industry should be at least $100
billion, which presents a huge opportunity
for various types of startups and VCs,”
Tan said.
Singapore is attracting global inves-
tors who want to use it as a base to invest
in Southeast Asia’s tech sector, mainly
because of the country’s rule of law and
tax regime, Tan said. It is also attracting
entrepreneurs and other talent thanks
to its ease of doing businesses, qual-
ity of life and high level of education,
he added.
“Lots of U.S.-educated fellow
Singaporeans are coming back,” Tan
said. Some nonnative entrepreneurs like
Arroyo, a Spanish citizen, are choosing
Singapore as the place for incorporation
as well.
As a Sequoia partner, Tan lived in
Silicon Valley, which has thrived with an
ecosystem of angel investors, entrepre-
neurs-turned-mentors, venture capitalists,
lawyers and banks. He says that Singapore
is rapidly developing those supporting
functions as well. “Five years ago there
was almost none of those. Now we see a
critical mass of mentors and supporters,”
Tan said.
One of those crucial elements is incuba-
tion space. The Singaporean government
has been proactive in fostering this aspect
as well.
In 2011 the National University of
Singapore launched a startup-incubation
space called Block 71 in a renovated in-
dustrial building. Taking its name from
its street address, Block 71 adopted a sim-
ilar strategy as 500 Startups, the pioneer-
ing incubator launched a year earlier in
Silicon Valley.
Today Block 71 is a cluster of seven incu-
bation buildings set on a 16,000-sq.-meter
piece of land. It hosts 250 startups and 30
incubators and VCs -- making it one of the
largest clusters of startups in the world.
Michael Yap, a Block 71-based ven-
ture capitalist who worked in Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s office when
Block 71 was launched, says Singaporeans
still need to “think harder” about how the
city-state should adapt to change.
For example, if Indonesia -- the re-
gion’s largest economy and home to four
“unicorns” -- accelerates reforms and be-
comes more business-friendly, it is unclear
whether Singapore could maintain its
advantage as a regional hub for entrepre-
Nikkei Asian Review - Special excerpt from Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2018 Print edition. Nikkei Inc. No reproduction without permission.
neurs and investors.
“We should think about what roles we
can play in different environments so that
people would not forget about Singapore
and jump to Indonesia,” Yap said.
By Ken Koyanagi,
Nikkei Asian Review editor-at-large
No. of tech startups:
Government aiming for 1,000 startups
by 2020
Government support:
Grants for incubators and simplified
tax procedures for e-commerce below
a certain turnover
Education/talent pool:
University of Indonesia and Bandung
Institute of Technology are among
Indonesia’s most prestigious schools
Access to funding:
Large international investors like
SoftBank, Temasek, Google, as well as
various local venture capital investors
Transportation:
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport
connects various Asian cities; mass
rapid transit system under construction
to alleviate chronic traffic jams, with
partial operation to start in 2019
Office rent:
368,349 rupiah ($24.25) per sq. meter
per month for premium space in
central business district, 302,703
rupiah for Grade A space, according
to JLL Indonesia
JAKARTA Indonesia’s capital may not
be the easiest place to do business -- the
city is plagued by chronic traffic jams,
and there is plenty of red tape. But de-
spite the hassles, Jakarta has recently be-
come one of Southeast Asia’s most excit-
ing startup hubs.
Indonesia boasts four unicorns -- start-
ups valued at $1 billion or more -- and it
is the second-largest recipient of venture
capital in Southeast Asia, behind only
Singapore. Venture capital firms pumped
$1.4 billion into 123 deals in 2016, dou-
ble the value of their commitments a
year earlier, according to consultancy AT
Kearney and Google. Deal values more
than likely doubled again in 2017.
“Now we are seeing a much more
consistent rise of startups,” said Ridzki
Syahputera, corporate development man-
ager at Convergence Ventures, a local
venture capital firm. “I think a lot of it is
market confidence that they will get
funding. Entrepreneurs believe that they
can get funding, whereas five years ago,
they might have thought, only if I am re-
ally the best would I be able to success-
fully fundraise.”
It is Indonesia’s market potential that
has international investors excited. The
country has the world’s fourth-largest
population, of over 260 million people,
60% of whom are under 40. They are also
digital-savvy: Smartphone penetration is
set to reach 78% in 2020.
Unlike countries with smaller domestic
markets like Singapore or South Korea,
Indonesia’s startup scene is focused on
the consumer sector. Its unicorns are
all consumer-centric: Tokopedia and
Bukalapak are e-commerce companies,
while Go-Jek started off as a ride-hailing
app and is now a platform for ordering a
variety of daily services. Traveloka is an
online travel service.
The next wave of startups has focused
on ancillary services like payments, lo-
gistics and advertising technology. And
while the shallowness of Indonesia’s
capital markets means that an IPO exit
strategy is unfeasible for most startups,
the country’s unicorns are now acting as
acquirers of these new businesses -- fur-
ther invigorating the ecosystem in the
nation’s capital.
President Joko Widodo’s push to make
Indonesia the biggest digital economy in
the region has contributed to the momen-
tum. His administration is backing an

initiative to foster 1,000 startups by 2020
with a total valuation of $10 billion, and
it plays a key role in the Nexticorn pro-
gram, which brings together promising
local startups with international investors
to help with latter-stage funding.
In 2017 Widodo ordered the relevant
ministries to support startups, includ-
ing by offering grants to incubators. His
administration also made it easier for
e-commerce companies to receive low-
rate bank loans and provided simplified
tax procedures for those with annual
turnover below 4.8 billion rupiah.
“I am pretty content with what is
happening, how Jakarta is developing
as a city,” said Benedicto Haryono, co-
founder and CEO of the online P2P lend-
ing service KoinWorks. Founded in 2015,
it is one of the many fintech startups that
are springing up in the city.
But he added that problems remain.
“Hiring is still a challenge. [There is a]
lack of talent, the talent pool is so small,”
Haryono said. “If you have money, yes
you can hire, but if you have to com-
pete with the likes of Go-Jek on hiring,
it is difficult.”
This issue is “not easy to fix overnight,”
said Shekhar Chauhan, principal at AT
Kearney. According to the consultancy,
Indonesia produces only 278 engineers
per 1 million people each year, far behind
regional peers like Malaysia or Thailand,
which produce well over a thousand.
“One of the recommendations we
had was facilitating, getting in more for-
eign talent, which is another issue in
Indonesia,” Chauhan said. Indonesia is
wary of bringing in skilled foreign labor,
as it may hamper job opportunities for its
young workforce.
The combination of large amounts of
money chasing startups without enough
talent is raising some concern among in-
vestors, he added.
“That is where they might hit road-
blocks,” Chauhan said.
By Nikkei staff writer
Shotaro Tani
ON THE COVER
No. of tech startups:
750 in Thailand
Government support:
Three acts under consideration could
lower barriers to startups, including by
removing foreign ownership caps;
Thailand 4.0 initiative aims to shift
country to tech-oriented,
knowledge economy
Education/talent pool:
Mahidol University and Chulalongkorn
University, both in Top 60 on QS Asia
University Ranking 2018
Access to funding:
Thai corporations and state-owned
enterprises have launched several
venture capital firms and accelerator
programs; Stock Exchange of Thailand
in May launched a crowdfunding
platform for startups and small and
midsize enterprises; foreign
investment also on the rise
Transportation:
Served by two international airports;
well-developed transportation
infrastructure within city
Office rent:
1,186 baht ($36.36) per sq. meter per
month for prime space, according to
CBRE Research
BANGKOK The charms of Bangkok that
have long attracted holiday goers are in-
creasingly appealing to multinational en-
trepreneurs wanting to set up shop in Asia.
Developed infrastructure, good access to
neighboring markets, affordable prices
and sunny weather are only a handful of
the reasons why startups are sprouting in
the Thai capital.
German-born Michael Cluzel, co-
founder and group CEO of restaurant
booking app operator Eatigo, chose
Bangkok for its headquarters and the app’s
debut market because of its high mobile
internet penetration rate and less compet-
itive environment compared to advanced
Western economies.
The Thai capital appeals to
entrepreneurs for many of the
same reasons it appeals to tourists.
Eatigo offers diners time-based dis-
counts -- deals are better during off-peak
hours -- so that eateries can fill up their
empty tables. Cluzel got the idea from
how airplanes and hotels change their
rates depending on availability.
“Nobody in the world had ever done
such an app for restaurants before so we
needed to invent a new playbook,” Cluzel
told the Nikkei Asian Review. “We didn’t
want to do it through a looking glass in
New York or San Francisco -- we wanted
to be in a market where we can learn, and
Asia was just right.”
Bangkok was a good fit for Eatigo, with
its population of 8.2 million, rising mid-
dle class, few restaurant app rivals, strong
dining culture and -- perhaps above all --
discount-loving consumers.
Cluzel and his three co-founders also
saw Bangkok as a springboard to other
Asian markets.
“If it works here, we thought it is going
to work in Manila, Kuala Lumpur and
Jakarta,” he said, citing similarities such as
the culture of dining out and expanding
middle-income consumers.
After launching in Bangkok in 2014, the
app is now in six countries, including in
competitive markets like Manila, Kuala
Lumpur, Mumbai, Singapore and Hong
Kong -- and has grabbed the leading share
in many of them.
Reuters
Multinational startups like Eatigo are
not unusual in Bangkok. Japanese entre-
preneur Yojiro Koshi picked Bangkok as
the base for TalentEx, which offers human
resource-related services, in part because
he liked its mix of urban development
and livability.
“Bangkok was livable for my family,
compared to Singapore, which would be
too expensive, or Jakarta, which still lacks
a lot of basic infrastructure like public
transportation,” he said. Bangkok also has
a large base of Japanese corporations that
could be his potential clients.
Rising government support is set to
draw more startups to Thailand, espe-
cially Bangkok. The military junta has
positioned startups as a crucial player
in its “Thailand 4.0” policy, which aims
to shift the nation’s industries from
labor-intensive to tech-oriented and
knowledge-based.
One obstacle facing entrepreneurs
launching a startup in Thailand is the 49%
foreign ownership cap, which restricts
them from receiving funds from foreign
venture capital firms, and a range of busi-
ness fields that are off-limits to foreigners
unless they have a Thai co-founder.
But three government policies --
the Thailand Startup Act, Regulatory
Sandbox Act and Thai Bayh-Dole Act -- are
in the works that could ease some of these
Nikkei Asian Review - Special excerpt from Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2018 Print edition. Nikkei Inc. No reproduction without permission.
restrictions. A clause in the draft of the
Thailand Startup Act, for example, would
allow startups to be 100% foreign-owned.
The new rules are expected to be enacted
before the next general election, which
could come as early as February 2019.
Funding opportunities are growing,
too. Thai startups raised at least $100 mil-
lion in 2017, a more than tenfold increase
from 2013, according to startup website
Techsauce. Thai corporations and state-
owned enterprises have launched a slew of
venture capital firms and accelerator pro-
grams in the past year or two. And in May,
the Stock Exchange of Thailand launched
a crowdfunding platform for startups and
small and midsize enterprises to source
funding from institutional investors and
venture capital.
Foreign capital is also flowing in. In
late 2017, Bangkok-based online fashion
brand Pomelo Fashion raised $19 mil-
lion in a series B round led by Chinese e-
commerce giant JD.com and Indone-
sian investment firm Provident Capital
Partners. Japan’s leading online fash-
ion company Start Today also joined the
round. It was reportedly the largest series
B fundraising in Thailand at that time.
“Our investors have created so many
new opportunities for our Thai company,”
said David Jou, the Korean-American co-
founder of Pomelo. The fast-fashion brand
focuses primarily on Asian markets. Its
designers are all hired locally to fit local
tastes, and their price points are about half
those of Western fashion brands like Zara
and H&M.
JD has listed Pomelo’s clothes on its
websites in Thailand and Indonesia and
might pave the way for Pomelo to ven-
ture into the Chinese market, Jou said. The
fact that it is a Thai company might help:
Thailand is the No. 1 destination for
Chinese travelers, and its food is popular
in China.
“Being a Thai company,” Jou said, “is an
opportunity for us.”
By Nikkei staff writer
Yukako Ono
No. of tech startups:
Over 900 in Malaysia
Government support:
Tax holidays for up to 10 years for
qualifying startups under government
programs aimed at promoting
technology companies; angel
investors can receive a tax deduction
of up to 500,000 ringgit ($120,000) in
their third year
Education/talent pool:
Malaysian Global Innovation and
Creativity Centre, a federal initiative,
runs its own academy offering
short-term courses for school leavers
and working adults; courses range
from app development to
augmented reality
Access to funding:
State-owned Cradle Fund gives
grants of between 25,000 ringgit and
800,000 ringgit. Cradle Fund, through
wholly owned subsidiary Cradle Seed
Ventures, invests 1 million to 3 million
ringgit in local startups
Transportation:
Penang International Airport connects
to major cities in Southeast Asia;
MaGIC provides travel and
accommodation allowances for
participants in its Global Accelerator
Program, an exchange meeting for
startups in the region
Office rent:
200-600 ringgit ($48-144) per month for
co-working space at MaGIC centers
PENANG There is no doubt that
Malaysia’s most famous startup is the
one that got away. Two years after
Anthony Tan and Tan Hoi Ling launched
the MyTeksi ride-hailing app in Malaysia,
the company -- by then renamed Grab --
relocated its headquarters to neighboring
Singapore. Since that move in 2014, Grab
has become a $10 billion company and
taken over Uber’s Southeast Asia business.
But Ashran Ghazi, who runs the
Malaysian Global Innovation and

Creativity Centre, or MaGIC, says he is not
dwelling on the past. His agency, which
was set up in 2014 to raise the country’s
next generation of entrepreneurs, is fo-
cused on building “awesome companies,”
he said. Keeping successful startups in
Malaysia is not a primary consideration,
he added.
There is no shortage of entrepre-
neurs in the country, many of whom are
congregating in the northern island of
Penang. Among them is Ai Ching
Goh, who gave up her marketing
job at Procter & Gamble to establish
Piktochart, a visual communications app
that makes it easier for nondesigners
to create infographic. Founded in 2012,
Piktochart boasts over 13 million regis-
tered users -- about half of whom are in
North America.
“We are not just a design-tool app per
se but one that allows users to tell a bet-
ter story through charts,” said 32-year-old
Goh, who has about 60 employees repre-
senting 15 nationalities.
Penang has long been home to multina-
tional companies, including chipmaking
giant Intel, which fostered a strong engi-
neering workforce. The state government
is pushing harder to encourage entrepre-
neurship, a job that should be easier since
the national elections in May. Penang was
under opposition rule for a decade, which
meant it received little aid for develop-
ment from the federal government.
“It is pivotal to show that it’s possible
for a company based in Penang to become
a global company,” said Howie Chang of
aCAT, an agency launched in 2015 to pro-
mote entrepreneurship.
Among Penang’s homegrown engi-
neers is 26-year-old Jin Xi Cheong, who
left Intel to start Poladrone, a drone
startup that launched in 2016 with fund-
ing and guidance from aCat.
The company uses drones to take
high-resolution photographs for technical
analysis in the agriculture and oil and gas
sectors. Now based near Kuala Lumpur,
Poladrone counts Malaysia’s leading palm
oil companies like Sime Darby Plantation
ON THE COVER
as its customers. Its services include mea-
suring tree density for fertilizer forecasts
and disease detection -- jobs that had to be
done manually before.
Plantation owners in neighboring
Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have
knocked on Poladrone’s door for solu-
tions, said Cheong, adding that he is con-
sidering expanding abroad.
Another Penang startup is EasyParcel,
an online parcel delivery operator that has
tied up with over 10 couriers, including
DHL and FedEx. After four years in op-
eration, EasyParcel has over 400,000 users
in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and
Thailand, earning a margin from the bulk
discount provided by the couriers.
Most of these startups share a common
feature: government support of some kind,
especially funding. The Cradle Fund is one
of the government agencies that has been
nurturing startups since 2003, disbursing
grants of between 25,000 ringgit ($6,012)
and 800,000 ringgit.
The fund, which has backed over 700
tech-based startups, has also become a
source of venture capital. With a targeted
investment size of between 1 million ring-
git and 3 million ringgit per company, its
wholly owned unit Cradle Seed Ventures
takes minority equity stakes of not more
than 25% in companies that are involved
in mobile technology, software and enter-
prise solutions, and hardware engineering.
To keep up with global trends, the
fund is on the lookout for companies
active in artificial intelligence and block-
chain technology.
Dzuleira Abu Bakar, Cradle Seed
Ventures chief executive, however, says the
idea is not simply to copy other markets.
“I believe each country moves at its own
pace given the market dynamics, read-
iness of talent, infrastructure and other
economic variables -- not so much the
catch-up game but more of moving in the
direction of where technology trends are
headed towards.”
By Nikkei staff writer
CK Tan
No. of tech startups:
About 3,000 in Vietnam
Government support:
Tax incentives, favorable land leasing
terms, training programs;
government plans to launch $85
million startup fund this year; many
Ken Kobayashi
local government-related bodies and
companies have also launched funds,
platforms to support startups
Education/talent pool:
Ho Chi Minh City University of
Technology, a member college of
Vietnam National University Ho Chi
Minh City, is known for its technology,
engineering and business
management programs
Access to funding:
Around 70 venture capital funds
operating in Vietnam, more than
two-thirds from overseas; these
include CyberAgent Ventures,
Incubate Fund, SoftBank Capital,
Crystal Horse Investments, Asia
Venture Group
Transportation:
Ho Chi Minh City is served by Tan
Son Nhat International Airport,
Vietnam’s largest airport; city’s first
metro line scheduled to open in 2020
to relieve heavy traffic congestion
Office rent:
$50 per sq. meter per month for
Grade A space as of second quarter,
according to JLL
HO CHI MINH CITY When e-
commerce platform Sendo raised $50
million this year from SoftBank and other
foreign investors, it was a reflection of
two trends in Vietnam: booming online
sales and rising interest in one of Asia’s
fastest-growing economies.
As an e-commerce platform for in-
dividuals and small businesses to sell
their goods, Sendo has benefited from
strong annual online sales growth of
30% in Vietnam in recent years. That
high growth rate is expected to continue
at least through 2020, according to the
Vietnam E-commerce Association.
Nguyen Dac Viet Dung, Sendo’s chair-
man, says he plans to raise more money
to keep growing. “We [will] seek one
or two more rounds of fundraising in
the next five years,” he told Nikkei in a
recent interview.
Vietnam’s startup environment is less
well-developed than regional rivals like
Singapore or Indonesia, but the central
government is aiming to change that. It
has set up three main high-tech parks in
Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City,
and it is creating incentives for the de-
velopment of new high-tech businesses
-- including the planned launch of an $85
million startup fund this year.
Ho Chi Minh City has kicked off con-
struction of an incubator for local tech
startups inside the Saigon Hi-Tech Park,
already home to tech giants such as Intel
and Samsung. The facility will cover an
area of over 11,000 sq. meters, and offi-
cials say the city has spent $90 million
for startup and innovation programs
there in the past two years.
Vietnam does not keep statistics on
startups, but pan-Asia consultancy
Dezan Shira & Associates says $290 mil-
lion was invested in 92 Vietnamese start-
ups in 2017. According to tech news site
Techsauce, there were about 3,000 start-
Nikkei Asian Review - Special excerpt from Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2018 Print edition. Nikkei Inc. No reproduction without permission.
ups operating in the country last year.
Investment is coming from inside
and outside Vietnam. Tiki, another e-
commerce platform, raised $54 million
from China’s JD.com this year, following
$17 million from internet company VNG
in 2016 and an undisclosed amount from
CyberAgent Ventures, Seedcom and
Sumitomo. Momo, an e-wallet and pay-
ments app, received $28 million from
Standard Chartered Private Equity and
Goldman Sachs in 2016.
IDG Ventures Vietnam was the first
venture capital firm to focus on tech-
nology startups in the country when
it launched in 2004. The fund manages
$100 million and has invested in some
40 startups in the fields of technology,
media and consumer industries. This
year, VinaCapital, an investment fund
that manages $1.8 billion in assets,
launched the $100 million VinaCapital
Ventures VC fund, one of the biggest
local funds for startups. In all, there are
some 70 venture capital funds operat-
ing in Vietnam, more than two-thirds of
them from overseas.
Much of the tech startup activity in
Vietnam centers on blockchain and cryp-
tocurrency technologies -- despite the
fact that the country has yet to craft a
regulatory framework for those indus-
tries following a series of scandals.
In April, Vietnam was at the center
of the biggest fraud in cryptocurrency
Startups are flourishing in
Ho Chi Minh City, particularly those
related to blockchain technology.
history, where investors said they were
robbed of as much as $660 million
through scams linked to initial coin of-
ferings. The government has since taken
a hard line on the industry.
But many companies remain bullish
on the opportunity for blockchain-re-
lated businesses in Vietnam -- including
Nami Corp. The company is developing
AI and blockchain technologies for its fi-
nancial investment ecosystem and prod-
ucts for managing financial services.
“Vietnam lacks a legal framework for
crypto and related technologies, which
means people are often confused when
we talk about Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies
and blockchain,” said Giap Van Dai,
the 27-year-old co-founder of Nami.
“It should take four or five more years
before the blockchain technique can be
applied in local business communities,
since it will take time for the market to
accept it and for authorities to come up
with related regulations.”
According to Dai, the blockchain in-
dustry in Vietnam employs around 2,000
people, up from 30 in 2017. Many of
them graduated overseas and gained ex-
perience developing apps, financial ser-
vices and other products in developed
countries, including in the U.S., Japan
and Singapore.
“Young people are enthusiastic to
learn and work in the new industry,”
Dai said.