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

At the Vietnam Financial Forum 2026, I sat down with Shimna Chandan, Managing Director and Head of Private Assets at Vantage Point Asset Management in Singapore, to discuss why international investors are increasingly looking at Vietnam, and why Da Nang may have a particularly interesting role in what comes next.

Shimna and her firm have been actively investing in Vietnam for several years. What makes her perspective particularly interesting is that she isn't simply talking about Vietnam's potential from the sidelines. She is looking at where capital can actually be deployed.

We discuss:

• Why foreign institutional investors are increasingly interested in Vietnam

• Whether Da Nang could become a major regional technology and fintech hub

• How Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang could develop different roles within Vietnam's International Financial Center

• The emerging opportunity around carbon markets and climate technology

• What international investors need from Vietnam's regulatory environment

• Why execution and follow-through now matter more than promises

• Vietnam's talent advantage and remaining language challenges

• Why entrepreneurs may increasingly look beyond Singapore

• The combination of lifestyle, affordability and business opportunity that makes Da Nang unusual

• Why Shimna believes the timing for Vietnam may finally be right

Shimna also shares a fascinating vision of Da Nang developing around fintech, climate technology, carbon markets, AI and blockchain while Ho Chi Minh City continues to grow as Vietnam's primary commercial and institutional financial center.

The question is shifting from Does Vietnam have potential? to How quickly can that potential become reality?

Recorded at the Vietnam Financial Forum 2026 in Da Nang, Vietnam.