The internal conflicts behind a Vietnamese search engine

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Hi readers,

David-versus-Goliath stories are everywhere in the startup world. We had Airbnb going up against the hotel industry as well as Uber taking on the taxi market. In such stories, I would always support the Davids because they tend to be more innovative and have cooler tech. And it just feels good when an underdog takes down a giant.

In today’s story, a David in Vietnam has been going up against Google and Bing for close to a decade now. But internal conflicts might be slowing down its growth.

Today we look at,

• Vietnamese search engine Coc Coc and the story behind it
• Chope and Alipay’s partnership
• Other newsy highlights such as Kredivo expanding into Vietnam and China’s Supreme Court deeming the “996” work culture unlawful

PREMIUM SUMMARY

All eyes on Vietnam’s local search engine

Going up against Google is not an easy feat. But Vietnamese search engine Coc Coc has done so for almost eight years now. Since launching in 2013, its search engine is now in second place in the country, right behind Google, while its browser is ranked third, surpassing Internet Explorer and Firefox. But accusations made by its former CEO have been slowing Coc Coc down.

• Knock knock, who’s there: In the first few years, Coc Coc was betting on its local advantage. The company made its search engine so that it “better understands Vietnamese linguistics” and built an English-Vietnamese dictionary into its browser. The efforts paid off: In 2015, Coc Coc’s search engine had 8.7 million monthly active users.
• Internal conflicts: Coc Coc has been embroiled in a lawsuit against Victor Lavrenko, its co-founder and former CEO, who had publicly accused the search engine of engaging in unethical behavior, including showing gambling advertisements which is prohibited under Vietnam law.
• The future: The Vietnamese government has a goal to have 40% of its population use domestic search engines by 2025, which could benefit Coc Coc. The company also plans to white label its search technology the way Google and Bing does.

Read more: Coc Coc is aiming to be Vietnam’s Bing. Its ex-CEO wants to stop it

PREMIUM SUMMARY

Alipay and Chope team up