Vietnam’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: From Nascent to Integrated

From Nascent to Foundational

Eleven years ago, Vietnam already had many of the ingredients for entrepreneurship: a young population, a growing base of technical talent, strong entrepreneurial ambition, and a large domestic market. Yet the ecosystem itself had not reached critical mass. Support organizations were still developing, experienced mentors and investors were limited, and connections among founders, universities, corporations and public institutions remained fragmented. Entrepreneurship was gaining momentum, but many of the structures required to sustain that momentum were only beginning to take shape.

What followed was a period of foundation building. Incubators, accelerators, investor networks and other support organizations expanded, while government engagement and international exposure increased. Founders gained greater access to expertise, capital and new approaches to company building and market expansion. Swiss EP accompanied this development by supporting local Partner Organizations, facilitating access to international expertise and fostering connections that could strengthen locally led approaches over time.

Over the years, Swiss EP has supported 16 Partner Organizations and facilitated 100 Expert and Entrepreneur-in-Residence missions, representing 1,492 days of practitioner support. Swiss EP-supported companies have also mobilized more than CHF 168.6 million in capital. These figures provide one indication of progress, but they do not tell the whole story. The deeper change lies in the capabilities, relationships and institutional knowledge that increasingly sit within the ecosystem itself.

Toward a More Integrated Ecosystem

As foundations strengthened, Vietnam’s ecosystem became broader, more specialized and increasingly connected. Organizations that once focused on general entrepreneurship support have developed deeper capabilities in areas such as investment, commercialization, internationalization, sector-specific acceleration and scale-up. Homegrown investors have emerged alongside international capital, while universities, innovation centres, corporations and public institutions are becoming more closely connected to the entrepreneurship and innovation landscape.

Startup founders have evolved with the ecosystem. Vietnam’s large domestic market, digitally connected population and expanding technical talent base continue to create fertile ground for entrepreneurship, while more founders are building with regional and global markets in mind from an earlier stage. Around them, a stronger network has emerged: accelerators, investors, experts, legal advisers, corporates, universities and international partners able to contribute at different stages of a company’s journey.

This evolution can also be seen through the actors that have grown with the ecosystem. Accelerator models have become more sophisticated. Angel investor networks and homegrown venture capital firms such as ThinkZone have emerged. More specialized services have developed around investment, legal support and internationalization, while companies such as NetZero Pallet and Ecomdy have drawn on different parts of the ecosystem as they commercialize, mobilize capital and expand into new markets.

No single organization or intervention explains this progress. It has developed through the accumulation of local capability, trusted relationships and stronger connections over time. Perhaps the clearest distinction between 2015 and today is not simply that Vietnam has more ecosystem actors, but that these actors are able to specialize, collaborate and evolve with greater local ownership.

What 11 Years Have Taught Us
Several lessons stand out from this journey:

1. Ecosystem development takes time. Successful companies rarely move from early-stage support to meaningful scale within a single program or funding cycle, and the same is true of ecosystem organizations. Capabilities, trust and institutional knowledge accumulate gradually, which is why continuity and long-term relationships matter.
2. Ecosystems matter more than individual organizations. A founder may engage with an accelerator at one stage, an investor at another, an industry expert during commercialization, and an international network when expanding abroad. The value of an ecosystem lies in the quality of individual actors, and in how effectively they connect around the evolving needs of founders.
3. Specialization has also become more important. Broad-based entrepreneurship support played an essential role during the foundational stage, when knowledge and support structures were still limited. As companies, technologies and markets become more sophisticated, founders increasingly require sector expertise, relevant capital, market access and operational support suited to their stage and business model. Capital markets are evolving in parallel: the emergence of homegrown investors represents important progress, while innovation-driven companies require a broader range of financing mechanisms beyond venture capital alone.

This shift is also raising the bar for international expertise. Reflecting on how ecosystem maturity and AI are reshaping knowledge transfer, Hiep Tuan Pham, Investment Director at BK Holdings, noted:

Over the past decade, Vietnam has absorbed many core concepts through different forms of knowledge transfer. Today, with AI transforming how knowledge is accessed, international experts need to bring value that goes well beyond what local organizations can already learn or do themselves.

At the same time, innovation is at the centre of Vietnam’s national development agenda. The country is moving toward a new growth model in which innovation is seen as an important pathway for moving up the value chain, particularly through selected strategic technologies. This is bringing entrepreneurship, technology and innovation closer together, creating new expectations for the ecosystem: to support the emergence of startups, and to strengthen the pathways that move promising ideas and technologies toward commercialization and sustainable growth.

Swiss EP’s engagement has evolved alongside these shifts. Earlier engagement often emphasized strengthening local capabilities and facilitating access to international expertise. As local organizations have matured, the emphasis has moved toward more tailored capacity building, peer exchange, international connections and collaboration among actors with complementary roles. The underlying principle remains the same: to enable local actors to strengthen their own capabilities and increasingly lead from within the ecosystem.

Looking Ahead

Over the past decade, Vietnam’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has progressed from nascent, through foundational development, toward a more integrated system. With many of the core elements now in place, the focus is gradually shifting toward consolidation: helping existing actors and resources work together more effectively.

The priority is to improve pathways for startup development, scale-up, financing, commercialization and longer-term competitiveness. With innovation-driven Partner Organizations such as Nacentech and VIH joining the network, Swiss EP will continue to facilitate coordination and relevant connections across the entrepreneurship and innovation landscape.

Reflecting on this next phase, Vu Tran, Deputy Director of VNUHCM Innovation Hub (VIH), said:

What we are building is still relatively new in Vietnam, so this remains a learning journey for us. We value Swiss EP not only as a partner, but as someone we can exchange ideas with, learn from, and who can both support and challenge us as we move forward.

One of the clearest signs of progress is that local actors are able to lead, collaborate, and evolve independently. After 11 years, this may be one of the most meaningful outcomes of ecosystem building: capability, trust, and momentum are becoming more deeply rooted within the system itself.