Vietnamese-Founded AI Startup Raises $3 Million
Drylab AI, a startup founded by Vietnamese entrepreneurs, has raised $3 million in a seed round. Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India led the round, with participation from PatSnap, a data platform specializing in patent and intellectual property analytics. Drylab will use the funds to expand enterprise sales, hire engineers and biologists, and obtain security and compliance certifications for international research organizations.
Founded in 2025, Drylab builds an AI agent that helps scientists analyze research data. Users simply pose a question, and the system drafts an analysis plan, selects data and tools from more than 800 built-in sources, runs the analysis, interprets the results and fixes errors on its own.
The platform also runs a verification model that Drylab developed in-house and trained on real-world scientific analyses. The model audits how the platform handles data and flags errors so the system can correct its results. Customers can deploy Drylab on internal servers or lab workstations, keeping research data and results inside their own walls.
The platform already has paying customers in the US, Europe and Asia, including pharmaceutical companies, cancer treatment centers, biomedical research institutes and universities. Drylab now competes with better-capitalized rivals such as Lila Sciences, FutureHouse and Google’s research tools.
Green SM Brings Electric Ride-Hailing To Elife Platform
Green SM and Elife have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore integrating Green SM’s electric ride-hailing service into Elife’s partner network. Elife will connect Green SM with its partner apps, letting international travelers book a Green SM ride inside the app they already use, with no new download.
Elife operates a platform that supports enterprise super apps in mobility and delivery, connecting services across 182 countries. Its partner ecosystem serves about 100 million users a month, including international visitors to Vietnam.
The integration is slated to roll out across platforms in Southeast Asia, Europe and the US. The two companies also plan joint promotions for tourists, combining online and in-person campaigns.
Green SM entered the market in 2023 and now operates in Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Kazakhstan, Denmark, the Netherlands and the US with an all-electric VinFast fleet. The company says it has completed about 850 million trips, covering nearly 6 billion kilometers and cutting more than 800,000 tons of carbon emissions.
Vis 2026 Expands Links Between Tech Firms And Investors
The Vietnam Innovation Summit 2026 (VIS 2026) took place in Ho Chi Minh City with more than 150 business-matching sessions among technology companies, corporations and regional investment funds. The city’s Department of Science and Technology and InnoLab Asia organized the event, which drew more than 4,000 delegates from 30 countries and territories. Under the ASEAN CrossConnect program, organizers and Malaysia’s Cradle Fund arranged meetings between tech firms and regional corporations and funds, giving both sides a venue to compare needs and seek partnership and investment opportunities.
One of the summit’s highlights, the “Capital Without Borders” forum, mapped the path toward a free trade zone and an international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City. Experts discussed the legal framework for foreign ownership, capital flows and policies to attract talent. Under the stated target, the free trade zone will contribute 20% of the city’s GDP by 2045.
On the technology side, sessions centered on AI, semiconductors, robotics and smart manufacturing, with an emphasis on moving research results into production. In a session co-organized by RMIT University Vietnam, speakers examined cooperation among the state, universities and businesses, including licensing intellectual property to develop commercial products. Other sessions covered green finance and international supply chain standards, including the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, emissions inventories and supply chain traceability.
What Businesses Should Know Before Registering For Vifc Membership?
On August 17, 2026, the Vietnam International Financial Centre (VIFC) launched an online membership portal and standardized procedures for businesses seeking to join. According to KPMG, the audit and advisory firm, investors still need specific guidance on licensing conditions, membership benefits and permitted financial activities. Clarity on those points will shape whether businesses join VIFC and set up operations there.
KPMG urges businesses to prepare for VIFC membership before regulators finalize the framework. Preparation should start from business goals and investment strategy rather than incentives alone. Once a company settles on an operating model, it should line up staff, management structure and decision-making processes, then update its plans as new rules emerge.
Hoang Thuy Duong, Head of Tax at KPMG Vietnam, also made three recommendations to VIFC’s governing authority: receive and resolve business concerns within a clear deadline; simplify joining procedures for licensed companies already operating legally in relevant sectors; and align guidance and rule enforcement across the VIFC ecosystem.
Vietnam Still Struggles To Commercialize Technology
Vietnam tops the world in high-tech exports as a share of total trade, yet it earns little from intellectual property and struggles to master technology and commercialize research. The assessment, based on the 2026 Global Innovation Index, emerged at a Ministry of Science and Technology workshop on October 12.
Commercialization remains limited. As of August 22, technology exchanges had recorded 72 successful transactions worth VND11.233 billion. More than 62,500 technologies were on offer, but buyers posted only 750 purchase requests. On the business side, R&D spending stands at 0.3% of GDP, and 2024 statistics show only 6.7% of small businesses have an R&D unit.
The National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology and Environment blames a shortage of skilled labor, uneven infrastructure, a narrow capital market, and hurdles in valuing intellectual property and using it as loan collateral. Many research results lack operating data, standards, certifications and funding to refine them. Stakeholders also have yet to agree on how to value the work, who holds usage rights, how to share benefits and who bears responsibility during trials. New products, meanwhile, struggle to land a first customer.
To clear the bottleneck, the Ministry of Science and Technology proposes 10 indicators to measure how well sectors collaborate, co-funding projects in proportion to the capital businesses actually contribute, and tying funding for institutes and universities to cooperation and technology-transfer results. Ministries, localities and state-owned enterprises are tasked with refining mechanisms for commissioning research, public procurement and markets for new products, in line with Politburo Resolution 57-NQ/TW.
Genesia Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm operating in Japan and Southeast Asia, with a strong belief in the long-term potential of Vietnam’s digital economy. Beyond providing capital, the fund actively supports startups through strategic guidance and connections to a broader regional network.