Ten Vietnamese and five foreign start-ups will compete in the final round of the 2021 Start-up Wheel contest to be held virtually on November 5.

According to the Business Start-up Support Centre (BSSC), they were chosen from the top 60 Vietnam Track and top 50 International Track in the semi-final held on October 22.

According to the jury, the selection was a “truly difficult” decision since the former are mostly in distribution and retail, education, agriculture, and manufacturing, all directly affected by the pandemic, but demonstrated their entrepreneurial spirit, flexibility and inner strength despite that.

The top 50 International Track entries were from 23 countries and in trending sectors such as healthcare, fintech, transportation, foodtech, and agritech, but also had innovative business models and prepared well for expansion into the Southeast Asian market, with Viet Nam being the first, it added.

In the final round, the start-ups will pitch their business models to the judges and match wits in a Q&A.

There are separate juries for the two, each consisting of seven people with 10-20 years of experience in the start-up and innovation eco-system in Viet Nam and the region.

Organised by the BSSC and the HCM City Young Businesspeople Association, Start-up Wheel is one of the most important start-up events in Viet Nam.

It attracted 133 start-ups in 24 countries this year. — VNS