26/08/2026
๐๐ฐ๐จ ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ
Over the past weeks, our Investment Manager Nhat Anh sat on both sides of Vietnamโs innovation market: as a speaker at Vietnam EdTech Expo 2026 in Hanoi, and as a judge at Startup Wheel 2026. One room told us what the state is asking for. The other showed us what founders are actually building.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐
The EdTech Expo brought together department-level officials from the Ministry of Education and Training, the office of the National Council on Education and Human Resource Development, faculty leadership from major universities, and sector operators. Three themes came through from the ministry side.
Speed is now an explicit requirement: digital transformation must move faster, with short deadlines tied to specific deliverables. Two priorities were named directly: human capital and data.
The direction is shared platforms rather than standalone products. This includes shared digital learning resources and school management platforms, consistent with Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW dated 22 December 2024, which calls for building shared national digital platforms. The rationale was direct: shared infrastructure to avoid duplicated spending.
Procurement is shifting toward leasing services and infrastructure. This sounds administrative but may be the most consequential signal for company economics, converting one-off budget allocations into recurring spend.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐
Judging at Startup Wheel put a wide cross-section of the same period in front of us, across sectors well beyond education.
The range stood out: nutrient recovery from industrial wastewater, distributed biotech infrastructure for agriculture and the circular bioeconomy, digital twins for cultural heritage, and craft village production organized into working supply chains involving artisans and workers with disabilities.
These are sectors where technology has taken longer to arrive. What we saw were founders applying serious engineering to underserved parts of the Vietnamese economy, backed by domain understanding built through time in the field. Several already had paying customers and operating numbers, showing how far these teams had progressed before entering.
๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ญ๐จ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ
Three things are now visible with useful specificity on the policy side: what infrastructure gets built, how the state intends to buy, and the pace being asked for. On the founder side, capability and domain depth are both improving. Where those hold together, the binding constraint shifts toward ex*****on. That is where good private companies tend to earn their place.
๐ Do Ventures backs founders building for scale in Vietnam, in many of the sectors above. Ex*****on and domain depth are what we look for. If you are building products that reach millions of everyday users, we would like to hear from you.
