Two Vietnamese among top 30 Southeast Asia tech startup founders

By Khoa Lai   August 29, 2018 | 08:19 pm PT
Le Hong Minh and Tran Ngoc Thai Son have made TechInAsia’s top 30 tech startup founders’ list for Southeast Asia.

Le Hong Minh is CEO of VNG Corporation, which is the top provider of internet content in Vietnam. It all started with VinaGame, an online gaming platform Le Hong Minh founded in 2004. The company now owns major news site Zing, popular music site Zing MP3 and the instant messaging app Zalo.

In 2017, it made a record $186.3 million in revenue and $41 million in profit.

VNG CEO Le Hong Minh.

VNG CEO Le Hong Minh. Photo by VnExpress

Tran Ngoc Thai Son is CEO of Tiki, an e-commerce platform with more than 300,000 products in 12 categories.

Tiki started off as an online book store in 2010 before venturing into e-commerce. Son believes that the transition from traditional to online shopping is inevitable.

Tiki now ships goods across the length and breadth of Vietnam. The company intends to help further with fulfillment, logistics and other services.

Tiki CEO Tran Ngoc Thai Son. Photo courtesy of Tikis official website.

Tiki CEO Tran Ngoc Thai Son. Photo courtesy of Tiki's official website.

TechInAsia listed and placed the companies based on track record and firm’s public data (funding, revenue and evaluation) and divided them into three categories based on their company’s size  – “The up-and-comers,” “the established entrepreneurs,” and “the industry giant.”

VNG is listed under “the established entrepreneurs” while Tiki is placed under “the up-and-comers.”

Other overseas CEOs in the list are from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

According to TechInAsia, startup funding rose threefold in Southeast Asia from 2016 to 2017; from $2.52 billion to $7.86 billion.

 
 
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