Vi Chi Thanh, CEO and co-founder of Brain-Life Link Technology Company, during the interview with VOV reporter (Photo: Bao Tram)

For many AI startups, the transition from a laboratory breakthrough to a viable market product is a difficult hurdle to overcome. Vi Chi Thanh, CEO and co-founder of Brain-Life Link Technology Company, says the VietLeap AI Accelerator (VAA) transformed his team’s technical mindset.

"I think the biggest influence I can mention is the shift from the initial mindset of a scientist—where an engineer is always trying to prove a product is technically good—to a mindset of how it will actually deploy in a real-world environment. That is a very significant transition from being a scientist to an entrepreneur," Thanh told VOV.

The VietLeap AI Accelerator program is designed to provide comprehensive support to early-stage AI startups, helping them overcome initial challenges to develop products, enhance business capabilities, and prepare for international funding rounds.

The program selects a number of AI startups with high growth potential and clear funding needs.

Selected startups receive a special support package comprising four main pillars: Networking and Growth Opportunities; Infrastructure and Technology Support; Capacity Development and In-depth Mentoring; and the final phase focuses on helping startups finalize their funding proposals.

The VietLeap program, implemented by BambuUP alongside partners like NIC (Vietnam National Innovation Center) and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), distinguishes itself through intense personalization. Despite having only 9 startups in its most recent cohort, the program mobilized 26 experts to provide one-on-one coaching.

Nguyen Huong Quynh, CEO of BambuUP, a one-stop innovation platform, explains that the program’s success relies on more than just technical matching. “We don't just match them simply on a technical level; we match them based on 'chemistry.' Because these experts do not have much time with the startups, they must be perfectly aligned from the start. We ensure these are top, battle-hardened experts in the market," said Quynh.

This approach has yielded immediate, tangible results. Within just two months, the program facilitated the signing of 9 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and helped at least one startup secure a deal with a strategic investor.

A business matching between participating startups and enterprises during the VietLeap AI Accelerator program (Photo: BambuUP)
A standout characteristic of VietLeap is that it ignores geographical boundaries. Startups were connected with experts in Thailand, Australia, and the US, with a special focus on the Japanese market. For Brain-Life, this connection was vital for refining their AI’s reliability.

According to the Brain-Life CEO, "Japanese users highly value long-term stability and operational capability; they are very concerned about AI risks. From those insights, we were able to train our AI to go deeper into ensuring transparency in algorithms and clear risk control mechanisms."

VietLeap startups are not just building technology for technology’s sake; they are targeting sectors with high social and economic value. Brain-Life, for instance, is leveraging Vietnam’s high expenditure on education to introduce AI-driven personalized learning, said Thanh.

He noted, "Education is the field we’re aiming for. In a classroom, a teacher can know which part of a lecture students find interesting. Parents in Asia never hesitate to invest in their children's education, and having a tool that helps a child study better or have a higher chance of passing university is a huge motivation."

All members of nine selected startups in the VietLeap AI Accelerator program (Photo: BambuUP)
The overall goal of VietLeap is to redefine Vietnam's role in the global tech rankings. By providing the "standardized processes" and "global testing protocols" required for high-requirement markets like Japan, the program empowers local engineers to aim higher.

CEO Thanh summarizes the collective ambition of the VietLeap cohort, "My dream is that Vietnam is not just a place for outsourcing for other regions, but a place that can directly create products with global quality. That’s what I always strive for!"

The hand-over ceremony of MOUs between startups and corporate partners (Photo: NIC)
As the program concludes its latest cycle, the "seeds of cooperation" have proved they can move beyond tech exchanges toward win-win scenarios—helping corporations innovate while giving Vietnamese startups a fast track to global commercialization.