2023 – Time for edtech to thrive in Vietnam

2In 2023, revenues of Vietnam's e-learning market are expected to reach around $3 billion with a compound annual growth rate of about 20.2 per cent during 2019-2023, according to a report by Ken Research. Photo: doanhnhansaigon.vn

Hanoi – Experts are positive about the development of Vietnam's education technology (edtech) market in 2023 if local edtech companies can overcome post-pandemic challenges.

Pham Giang Linh, managing director of Galaxy Education told the Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper that Vietnam's edtech market was formed in 2006 and 2007 – the first development stage of the digital economy in the country, but it only attracted wide attention in the period from 2020-2021, when demand for e-learning increased sharply due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, Vietnam saw the establishment of more than 100 edtech startups which strongly attracted capital from foreign investors, he said, citing examples like Topica, ELSA, ColderSchool, Edmicro, Vuihoc, and Educa, which attracted from millions to tens of millions of USD.

Local investors including Viettel, FPT, and VNPT also further invested in and expanded their e-learning services.

At the EDUtech Asia 2022 – Asia's largest education conference & exhibition – which took place in Singapore last November, international experts said major Edtech companies in the world are looking for new markets including Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.

In 2023, revenues of Vietnam's e-learning market are expected to reach around $3 billion with a compound annual growth rate of about 20.2 per cent during 2019-2023, according to a report by Ken Research, a market research and consulting firm based in India, Indonesia and UAE.

Huynh Kim Tuoc, director of Saigon Innovation Hub, Ho Chi Minh City's Sciences and Technology Department, said the number of people who own mobile phones and access the internet in Vietnam is higher than those in other countries in the region, which is an advantage that startups look to.

Truong Le Quynh Tuong, director of South East Asia at ClassIn, said that a factor that makes Ho Chi Minh City's edtech market attractive to investors is people's willingness to pay for education.

She said that the edtech market in the city in particular and Vietnam in general will continue to thrive as international companies from Singapore, Thailand, China, India, and the US are planning to jump in.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, technology application is an indispensable part of teaching/learning activities. The city's education department targets to digitalise 35 per cent of learning activities at schools, which is expected to maintain the use of technologies in education and training activities, she said.