Editor’s note: In recent years, Vietnam was celebrated as Southeast Asia’s rising star—a high-growth market fueled by a young, mobile-first population, strong developer talent, and rapid consumer adoption. Today, that story is shifting from potential to maturity.
Over the coming weeks, TNGlobal will publish an exclusive series of conversations with venture capitalists, ecosystem builders, startups founders. Whether you are an investor looking for the next growth driver in ASEAN, a founder scaling in the region, or an industry observer, this series offers a grounded, ground-level look into Vietnam’s digital economy.
Following a multi-year funding winter, Vietnam’s tech ecosystem is undergoing a flight to quality, driven by high talent density, disciplined unit economics, and a “Vietnam+” playbook where startups leverage local engineering talent to build for global markets.
According to Vietnam-based venture capital firm Ascend Vietnam Ventures (AVV), early-stage funding remains robust—particularly across agentic AI, enterprise SaaS, and a surprisingly world-dominant gaming sector—while growth-stage capital remains thin due to onshore fund vehicle gaps and exit-tax hurdles under current regulations.
With strategic merger and acquisition (M&A) serving as the primary exit path over public listings, investors view Vietnam’s current ecosystem trajectory as akin to India around 2012: an undervalued market on the verge of accelerating global capital inflows, further bolstered by pro-business policy momentum and an impending FTSE emerging-market reclassification, AVV Co-Founder and General Partner Binh Tran told TNGlobal in a recent interview. He is also the Vice-Chair of Vietnam Private Capital Agency.
Below are the edited excerpts of the interview:
How do you see the current state of Vietnam’s technology and startup ecosystem? What key trends are driving growth?
10 years ago, some were still arguing over whether Vietnamese engineers could be world-class. That talent question has been settled for a while, but capital is still in flux. VC funding increased last year from a poor 2024, on fewer deals, meaning money is concentrating in better companies.
Three trends are driving this: AI, where funding has dramatically increased; “Vietnam+,” or teams keeping engineering here and selling to the U.S. and Europe; and the government acknowledging that the private sector is critical to the Vietnamese economy.
None of these guarantee future performance, but they are positive developments after a multi-year funding winter.
How has the Vietnamese startup ecosystem matured over the last three years, and what has been the biggest surprise for you as an investor?
The global capital correction did us a favor. When capital overheated in 2022, we went back to fundamentals such as cost discipline, unit economics, and measurable growth. This means the quality standard rose quickly, and founders are now stronger as a result.
One of the biggest current surprises has been Vietnamese game studios, which have hit 4+ billion downloads per year – the most in the world – with minimal venture funding. This has reshaped how we think about go-to-market, at least in some sectors.
What are the unique opportunities and challenges that Vietnam’s tech sector faces compared to other Southeast Asian countries?
Vietnam’s primary advantage continues to be talent density and cost. Vietnam graduates tens of thousands of engineers every year and has PISA scores that rival developed countries, while AI talent costs a fraction of what it does in Silicon Valley. A large, tech-savvy population also allows for one of Southeast Asia’s best product testbeds.
A major challenge, meanwhile, is financial: there is still no onshore fund vehicle that institutional LPs will accept, while strict capital controls limit exits.
How would you describe the regulatory environment for startups in Vietnam? Are there specific regulations/policies that have significantly impacted startups’ operations/support the development of tech startups? How can the Vietnam government better support the tech industry, particularly in terms of innovation and international competitiveness?
There is real ambition, and a lot has happened over the last year, though we’re always sure to caution that regulations do not equal results. Resolution 68 named the private sector the economy’s most important driving force, the Digital Technology Law took effect in January, and the Vietnam International Finance Center (VIFC) went from concept to framework in about a year.
The gap in all of this is operational. That being said, three moves would change a lot, and none require new legislation. One: Decree 320 taxes 2 percent of gross sale proceeds, meaning a fund exiting at a loss still owes millions. Let managers elect net-basis, like in Singapore. Two: codify a real fund vehicle. Three: publish ESOP tax guidance.
What do you think about the current funding landscape for startups in Vietnam? Are there sufficient resources available for early-stage versus growth-stage companies?
Seed is the healthiest part of the market in terms of deal numbers. Vietnam saw 70 pre-A deals and 23 Series As last year, according to the 2026 Vietnam Innovation & Private Capital Report. After that, capital is concentrated and more selective. This means that money is available for clear unit economics and global ambition, not “the Vietnam version of X.” The institutional infrastructure to keep domestic capital in the game at scale is still missing, in many ways.
The Funding Gap: There has historically been a strong appetite for Early-Stage (Seed/Series A) funding in Vietnam. Are you seeing the gap in Growth-Stage (Series B+) capital widening or closing?
Closing at the top, still thin in the middle. Series C+ deal count hit six last year, the highest since 2022, and the $50M+ segment led the recovery, showing that the best companies are getting funded. But almost none of that is Vietnam-domiciled capital, and Series B is still where many companies stall.
We’ve responded to this by reserving funding for follow-ons, while our advice to founders hasn’t changed: keep product and engineering here, sell globally, and raise growth capital where growth capital lives.
Exit Strategy: What does the realistic exit landscape look like for a Vietnamese startup today? Are local or regional mergers and acquisitions (M&As) becoming more viable, or is IPO still the ultimate (and elusive) goal?
Realistically, M&A is the base case; an IPO is the exception. Tech makes up a small portion of Vietnam’s stock market by weight, compared to roughly a third of the S&P 500. Vietnam’s current IPO pipeline has few tech names.
So regional and strategic M&A is where liquidity actually happens, and is a key reason we’ve had 13 exits. A domestic startup exchange has been discussed since 2016 and made the rounds again last year, but is still nowhere near reality. Meanwhile, global exchanges are already open to Vietnamese founders, though this is by no means an easy path. The next two aren’t required, only if we want to answer them.
How is the deployment of its earlier funds? Is AVV currently actively deploying capital? Which sectors are you looking at?
We are actively deploying, with several more first checks and follow-ons expected by the end of the year.
In terms of sectors, among others, we’re looking at agentic AI infrastructure, where we backed Da Nang’s ByteRover; AI and SaaS applied to unglamorous industries; and gaming, as studios shift from downloads to durable revenue. The common thread is Vietnamese technical talent solving a global, or at least regional, problem.
Is AVV planning to raise funds any time soon?
Nothing to share today. The message we give LPs is simple: Vietnam right now looks like India around 2012, with undervalued talent, improving liquidity, and founders with global ambition.
Global allocators still underweight Vietnam, though that will change with FTSE’s emerging-market reclassification in September. When that capital looks for a local partner, we intend to be the first call.
AVV announces $6M investment in six Vietnamese startups over next six months