A peek inside Vietnam’s edtech industry

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What does it take to replicate success? Perhaps it’s following the same strategy of those who’ve gone before? Or does it take an entirely new idea?

That’s what Vietnam’s edtech sector is trying to figure out. Market leader Topica’s US$50 million series D round was one of the largest funding rounds ever closed by a Vietnamese startup. But since then, nothing’s come close.

Most of the players that have emerged over the years have more or less followed Topica’s business model. But perhaps someone with a different take on edtech needs to come along and break the mold.

Today, we look at:

• The rising edtech players in Vietnam and the challenges they’re facing in replicating Topica’s success
• Reliance Industry’s retail arm and its latest capital injection
• Other newsy highlights such as the revolt against app stores in India and the lucrative potential of Vietnam’s business-to-business ecommerce sector

Can another edtech startup top Topica?

Topica, Vietnam’s leading education tech startup, has been a hard act to follow – even for itself. Its 2018 series D round – in which the company bagged US$50 million from investors – is still one of the largest funding rounds ever closed by a Vietnamese startup.

However, the company’s reported layoffs and leadership changes earlier this year indicate that it’s not so easy for startups to crack the country’s edtech sector despite its lucrative potential.

• A large addressable market: Vietnam has about 16 million students in primary and secondary levels as well as another 1.7 million studying at universities. Frustration with the current education system prompts Vietnamese families to splurge billions of US dollars each year to send their children abroad.
• Copycats emerge: The past few years have seen hundreds of edtech startups come forth with similar business models to Topica. With the sector’s accelerated growth due to Covid-19, could one of these players ride the wave to become the next Topica?
• No clear runner-up: Besides Topica, no other company has really dominated any market segment. And with the company having to restructure and slow down, smaller edtech startups must overcome age-old barriers before they can think about pulling ahead of the pack. It doesn’t help that investments in Vietnam’s edtech sector have been fairly limited, with only US$3 million recorded for the first half of 2020.

Read more: After Topica, Vietnam seeks its next edtech breakthrough

Reliance’s retail arm does it again

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