Out of the 200 contestants from many nations in the world, the 10 best startup teams took part in the final round.
Among them, Vietnam had 5 projects selected, consisting of Graam, VVN, Appa, Vuihoc, and MultiGlass. They belonged to different fields of telecommunications, education, Internet of Things, and e-commerce.
The other 5 projects are Agrobot, TiMobile, Ipfication, Innova Solutions, and LaundryKH.
The examiner board includes the Cambodian Ministry of Information and Communications, CEO and leading startup people like Michael McCarthy – lecturer from Harvard Extension, Gene Soo – co-founder of StartupsHK, Shark Nguyyen Manh Dung – CEO of Cyber Agent Fund in Vietnam and Thailand.
After five hard-working hours, the jury was able to choose the top three to deliver the awards. In particular, The team VVN from Vietnam, with its Artificial Intelligence solution to customize automatic commerce procedures and reduce overhead cost, won the first prize.
Following them was the Indonesian team TiMobile, introducing a solution to automatically replace ringtones of receivers with a specific video clip set up by callers.
Standing at the third position was the team Graam, also from Vietnam, with its communication solution for businesses based on cloud technology, including battery and no pre-paid cost.
Besides the cash prize of VND170 million (approx. $7,300), the top-3 will be totally financed by Viettel to enter the final round of VietChallenge – a global startup contest for Vietnamese people held in the US with the prize of up to VND1 billion ($42,900).
When taking part in the final rounds of either Advanced Solution Track 2019 or VietChallenge, participants receive 1-1 consultation from internationally renowned CEO and startup people; professors in such universities as Harvard, MIT, and Boston; leading specialists in Silicon Valley.
Contestants will also join in training sessions for presentation skills, visit startup ecosystems in Boston, have a chance to work with prestigious investors in the US to attract capital.
The annual report on startup activities in 2018 by Topica Founder Institute (TFI) shows that last year, Vietnamese startups received $889 million investment capital from both domestic as well as global investment funds for 92 projects, three times and six times as much as that in 2017 and 2016 respectively.
Vietnamese startup ecosystems have been highly appreciated lately as the number of businesses has experienced a significant growth (from 400 startup companies in 2012 to 3,000 businesses in 2018).
Yet another report displays that 80 percent of Vietnamese startups encounter failure in their first operating year. This percentage reaches 92 percent in the next three years working, no matter how innovative the startup ideas are. According to startup experts, this signals a serious lack of both capital and practical experience of startup people.
According to Mr. Cao Anh Son, General Director of Viettel Telecom – a member of Viettel, Viettel Advanced Solution Track 2019 is the most practical activity of his company to offer a fair playground for both local and international startup people to earn more experience. The contest also shows Viettel’s guarantee to always create development opportunities for the startup community.
