Vietnam’s rising tech talent help put country on the start-up map
- In one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, a new breed of entrepreneurs is spurring innovation in everything from cybersecurity to language learning
Growing up in Vietnam with American television shows and films, Vu Van always dreamed about living in the United States.
But when she finally moved to California after being accepted at Stanford University in 2009, her spoken English skills, a work in progress, caused her to feel left behind.
“I would be speaking up in class and my professors couldn’t understand me,” she said. “Even though I had great ideas, they weren’t being received with full attention. I lost a lot of confidence in that first year.”
Van’s experience inspired her to create the English Language Speaking Assistant app after returning to Vietnam. Launched in 2015, ELSA, which uses artificial intelligence to help English learners improve their pronunciation, has already raised US$3.2 million in funding from Monk’s Hill Ventures, an investment firm that focuses on Southeast Asian start-ups.
“I conducted a survey and 90 per cent of respondents said they felt scared about speaking and there are no real solutions to help people solve these challenges,” said Van, who estimates that 1.5 billion people globally are learning English at any one time.
While the idea of AI-based language learning is highly original, Van’s home-grown success story is just one of numerous Vietnamese start-ups that have made their mark in recent years.