Why Startups Should Be Looking at Vietnam | Shimna Chandan of Vantage Point Asset Management

There is a point in every emerging market when interest begins to turn into commitment. Investors stop asking whether the opportunity is real and begin asking whether the timing is right. That was the central theme of my conversation with Shimna Chandan, managing director and head of private assets at Vantage Point Asset Management in Singapore, during the Vietnam Financial Forum 2026.

Shimna has been investing in Vietnam for several years across different sectors. Some investments have worked, others have not, but her confidence in the broader growth story has remained. What has changed is the sense of momentum around the Vietnam International Financial Center and the belief that the country may now be entering a more mature stage of institutional development. For investors like her, the opportunity is no longer theoretical. The question is whether the regulatory environment, market structure, and supporting infrastructure are ready to allow serious capital to move more confidently.

Her interest in Da Nang is especially strong. She described the city as strategically positioned between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but also as a place that has increasingly attracted technology companies looking for a strong ecosystem and a lower-cost base. For years, Da Nang has been known as a place where startups begin, only to move later to the larger cities in search of capital, talent, and customers. Shimna believes that pattern may now be changing as more companies decide to stay and as larger investors begin paying closer attention to Central Vietnam.

This is where the distinction between Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City becomes important. Ho Chi Minh City is already the country’s commercial and financial center, where banks, fund managers, institutional investors, and major corporations naturally establish their main offices. Da Nang does not need to compete directly with that model. Shimna sees the city developing a more specialized identity around fintech, climate technology, sustainable finance, and carbon markets, giving it a clearer role within the broader national financial-center strategy.

One idea that particularly interested her is the development of a carbon exchange. Shimna has experience investing in carbon capture projects across Southeast Asia and sees Vietnam as a potentially important source of high-quality carbon credits. As climate commitments increase around the world, companies are looking for credible ways to reduce or offset emissions, and Vietnam already has large agricultural, industrial, energy, and development sectors that could generate carbon-related projects.

If the right regulatory framework is created, Da Nang could become a place where those credits are verified, traded, and connected with international capital. This would also connect naturally with the city’s technology ecosystem, since AI, blockchain, and digital platforms could be used to track, verify, and potentially tokenize environmental assets. The result could be an industry that sits directly between finance, technology, and sustainability rather than treating those areas as separate conversations.

Shimna sees this as more than an environmental initiative. It is also an investment opportunity. Companies are already spending money to reduce their carbon footprints, developers are incorporating climate technologies into new projects, and institutional investors are increasingly considering environmental factors when allocating capital. Vietnam has an opportunity to turn this activity into a structured market rather than leaving it fragmented across individual projects and companies.

This kind of specialization may be exactly what Da Nang needs. Trying to become a smaller version of Ho Chi Minh City would make little sense, while building expertise around areas such as fintech, climate finance, carbon markets, and digital assets gives international investors a clearer reason to pay attention. It also allows Da Nang to connect its existing technology strengths with a new financial identity.

The opportunity is significant, but Shimna was equally clear about the challenge: execution. Vietnam has created momentum, government officials are moving more quickly, regulatory frameworks are being developed, timelines are being established, and international investors are showing serious interest. Now those promises need to be delivered consistently enough for confidence to deepen.

Institutional investors do not commit capital based on enthusiasm alone. They need confidence that regulations will be implemented, timelines will be respected, and the operating environment will become predictable. Shimna has seen financial centers succeed and fail elsewhere in the region, and the difference often comes down to whether the initial momentum survives the difficult implementation phase. If investors see policies implemented as promised, confidence grows. If regulations remain unclear or timelines continually shift, capital becomes more cautious.

For Shimna, the encouraging part is that Vietnam appears to understand the urgency. Her confidence also reflects a broader change in Southeast Asia. Singapore remains the region’s dominant financial center, but its success has created challenges of its own, particularly rising costs for office space, talent, housing, and daily operations. For startups and entrepreneurs, that can make experimentation expensive even when capital is available.

Vietnam offers a different proposition. The cost base remains lower, the engineering talent pool is strong, and cities such as Da Nang offer a lifestyle that is attractive to both local and international professionals. A company can build, test, and grow without facing the same financial pressure that comes with operating in a more mature market, while still remaining only a short flight from Singapore and other major Asian business centers.

This does not mean Vietnam will replace Singapore, nor does it need to. The two markets serve different roles and are at very different stages of development. Vietnam can instead become an attractive complement, where an entrepreneur might raise capital in Singapore while building a team in Da Nang, or where a financial institution might maintain regional operations in Singapore while exploring new products and investments in Vietnam.

The remaining challenge is language and communication. Shimna sees this as one of the few barriers that could slow international integration. Vietnam has strong technical talent, particularly in engineering and technology, but international companies also need professionals who can operate comfortably across languages and cultures. The government has already recognized this and is investing heavily in English education and internationalization, which could make the country even more competitive if that communication gap continues to narrow.

What struck me most about Shimna’s perspective was the timing. She has invested across the region and has seen markets at different stages of development. Some are already mature and expensive, while others remain too early, with regulatory frameworks still unclear. Vietnam appears to sit somewhere in the middle, where the foundations are visible, the capital is interested, the government is moving, and the costs remain competitive.

That timing may be one of Vietnam’s greatest advantages today. Investors are no longer looking only at what the country could become in ten years. They are beginning to see opportunities that already exist, and Da Nang may be one of the clearest examples. The city has spent years producing startups, engineers, and technology companies, often watching them leave for larger markets, but if the financial center succeeds in bringing capital, regulation, and specialization into the local ecosystem, more of those companies may finally have a reason to stay and grow here.