CNN recently interviewed Simon Squibb, CEO of Hong Kong-based Nest Investment, who ranked HCMC as the best emerging city for startups.
"The city has spawned Flappy Bird and with 70% of the population under the age of 30, the energy and buzz in this country will continue to build on its growing startup scene,” said Squibb.
However, CNN seems to have misquoted the CEO who was likely referring to the county in general as Flappy Bird’s creator, Dong Nguyen, is based in Hanoi and the demographic figures are national statistics.
Either way, TechinAsia’s Anh Minh Do seemed to disagree with Squibb’s assessment in a recent article, “Is Hanoi really the startup capital of Vietnam?”, concluding that the capital is a slightly better option due to the presence the major telecos and multimillion dollar media companies which help spawn startups.
However, Do feels HCMC may not be far behind with the emergence of several new startups:
“I’d also argue that although Hanoi is still the capital of Vietnam’s startup ecosystem, Ho Chi Minh City is producing a more promising set of young startups like Giao Hang Nhanh, Triip.me, Babyme.vn, Ticketbox.vn, and more.”
I’m sure plenty of our readers work in Hanoi and HCMC’s startup scenes. We’d love to hear your opinions on this topic!
