Haravan, Vietnam’s Answer to Shopify

From the outside, Haravan (a shortened version of the Vietnamese phrase “hai ra vang,” meaning to pick gold like you pick fruit) resembles Shopify and, indeed, at its core they both have the same mission and operate the same way. Shopify’s website states: “We focus on making commerce better for everyone, so businesses can focus … Read more

App Decisions

A startup at the heart of Vietnam’s mobile explosion When Flappy Bird exploded onto smartphones worldwide, mobile app fever hit Vietnam and within a few months mobile app development became ‘sexy.’ A year later, the phenomenon of the game is still echoed at tech-related events throughout Vietnam. At the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit, former … Read more

Lucky Number 21

Tech startups to keep an eye on Earlier this year , the Ministry of Science and Technology launched the Vietnam Silicon Valley project (www.siliconvalley.com.vn) – a four-month program that offers funding and mentorship to tech startups. It is still unclear how independent and strong these startups will be once they hit the market, although many … Read more

Grab it and Rock on

Grab[Motorbike]Taxi On just about every Ho Chi Minh City street corner there are idle xe oms waiting for a fare. Hoping to capitalize on this unused resource is GrabTaxi. The company has started to connect and incorporate xe oms into its taxi app. It’s a beta project currently only available in Vietnam. I recently tested … Read more

From Here to There

Traveling in uber style Most people in Vietnam never thought it would happen, but it has – the Uber app has arrived. The luxury transportation startup that connects users with a driver at the tap of a smartphone screen debuted in Bangkok in February, Beijing in April, and Jakarta in June. This month it reached Ho Chi … Read more

Wing Up

Another addictive game from Vietnam There have been hundreds of Flappy Bird clones out ever since the simple game topped the charts across the world. Although there’s been some innovation on the original concept from the creator Dong Nguyen’s dotGEARS company like Mr. Flap or Freaking Math, most games have stuck to the original ‘creature goes … Read more

Silicon Valley Vietnam

Overseas Vietnamese should be investing in tech startups, not just sending remittances. In 2013, overseas Vietnamese (or Viet Kieus) remitted an estimated USD11 billion into Vietnam. In 2013, Vietnam’s GDP was USD170 billion. That’s right; Viet Kieus send back so much money that it’s equal to about six percent of Vietnam’s overall GDP. And although … Read more