HCM CITY – Việt Nam’s growing start-up community is offering more support to entrepreneurial youth, Phạm Xuân Đà, head of the Ministry of Science and Technology office in HCM City, said during an awards ceremony for the Startup Việt 2018 contest in HCM City on Thursday.

The annual contest, held by online VnExpress newspaper for outstanding Vietnamese startups, attracted contestants from various industries such as real estate, education and healthcare.

The contest winner was Datamart Việt Nam whose project was PowerSell, an automatic multi-channel retail solution using big data analysis technologies and AI to aid sellers on platforms such as Lazada and Shopee.

The company received a media package from VnExpress and VNĐ5 billion (US$214,559) in investment from Phạm Văn Tam, CEO of Asanzo Việt Nam Electronic Company.

Bùi Hải Nam of Datamart said the contest was a good opportunity to learn and validate the group’s ideas.

Another contestant, Phạm Xuân Huy, with First Legal Force, a legal consultancy, said the contest provided him with brand promotion and investment opportunities, and helped identify problems that need to be fixed.

The company was among the top five winners for its project that helps potential buyers check the legality of real estate projects. 

Phạm Xuân Đà commended the entrepreneurial spirit of Vietnamese youth for their creativity, passion and willingness to take risks. He said the startup ecosystem was growing strongly, with more investments.

Trần Bá Duy Linh, a representative of a smart application that analyses user behaviour on smartphones, said that startups’ accessibility to consultants and investors was improving due to a large number of startup assistance events. 

Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder of Grab, said that Southeast Asia’s economy was growing rapidly, with more smartphone users and use of the latest information technologies.

Trần Ngọc Thái Sơn, CEO of Tiki, said that startups should have a long-term vision and look outside the Việt Nam market for outstanding ideas. - VNS