Two startups win KVision innovation awards

The former is an e-commerce solution provider and the latter a marketplace for lifestyle and home services in Vietnam.

The competition was held by KVision, a CVC arm of KASIKORNBANK (KBank).

Grand Winners took home $7,000 in cash and top contestants won a total of over $70,000 in other prizes and perks.

From left: Nghiem Thanh Son, senior deputy director general of the State Bank of Vietnam’s (SBV) Payment Systems Department and vice chairman of SBV Fintech Steering Committee; Duong Nguyen, partner, EY Vietnam; Nguyen Hoa Binh, chairman, NextTech; Chat Luangarpa, first senior vice president, KASIKORNTHAI BANK PCL. and director, KVision Duc Tran, CEO, VIISA

Over an adrenaline-fueled 3 days, 20 teams co-built innovative solutions centered on fintech and consumer lifestyles to tackle challenges in the Vietnamese and ASEAN markets.

Seasoned mentors from the likes of firms Akamai, MoMo and Sendo as well as business executives from the Kasikorn Group, namely KBank, Kasikorn Business Technology Group (KBTG) and Beacon Venture Capital were available around the clock. They sat down with startups to guide them hands-on through their formulation journey.

The event culminated with a pitch in front of reputable judges including the State Bank of Vietnam, KVision and NextTech. Winners were selected based on the creativity, user experience, value creation and scalability of their solutions.

Chat Luangarpa, first senior vice president of KBank said, "Hackathons bring a great atmosphere. There was a sense of creating something together to bring something new and different to the market. And in the end, it’s not just about winning the hackathon, but about finding a real solution to create real value and spur growth in the wider ecosystem."

Hackathon Winners collect their prizes.

Working together toward real solutions was the key theme of KVision’s Hackathon, said Duc Tran, CEO of VIISA. "We designed the program to combine all the right tools and the right partners to make real creation possible so that startups don’t just walk away with ideas but real foundations for them to grow their business," Tran said.

Chat added: "We are very impressed by the creativity of the solutions that these startups brought to the table. They have all demonstrated extremely innovative thinking, and we look forward to seeing how these ideas can transform our industry going forward."

KVision sees immense potential in Vietnamese startups to grow not only at home but in the region. KBank first entered Vietnam in 2015 with representative offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Currently, KBank plans to upgrade its Ho Chi Minh City representative office to its first branch in Vietnam once the license is granted.

Alongside setting up branches, KBank also looks to bring in digital solutions, including establishing partnerships with startups to address financial service gaps in the region.