Vietnam's educational technology startup is among the top in Southeast Asia
HolonIQ, a data research unit on education and technology, announced the 2026 Southeast Asia EdTech 50 list, gathering 50 startups assessed as promising, fast growing and innovative in the fields of learning, teaching and skills development in Southeast Asia.
Of these, Singapore is the largest center of the regional EdTech ecosystem, accounting for half of all businesses. Vietnam ranked second with 18%, while Indonesia reached 12%, down from 38% in 2020.
HolonIQ is a research and data analysis platform for the global education market, tracking trends, businesses and capital flows in the sector. To be on the list, a startup must be less than 10 years old, headquartered or primarily focused on the evaluated market, and must be in the startup or scale-up stage and not be acquired, listed or controlled by a group of investors. The platform evaluates businesses on 5 criteria including market, products, team, resources and momentum.
According to experts, the list shows that the focus of Southeast Asia EdTech is leaning more clearly towards general education (K-12). Startups operating in this group account for more than half, an increase of 20 percentage points compared to 2020. The support group (K-12 Support), including tutoring services, capacity assessment and AI-powered learning experiences, accounts for 35%, becoming the largest sub-sector.
Compared to last year, the rate of Vietnamese startups decreased from 26% to 18%, equivalent to 9 startups. Some prominent startups still retain their rankings such as AI Hay, KidsOnline, Tudy. Domestic startups appear in many different segments of the ecosystem, for example Vuihoc is mentioned as a platform contributing to the development of the K-12 Support group, while KidsOnline targets the preschool sector.
Meanwhile, in the support group, AI Hay of Vietnam and Cerebry of Singapore are prominent representatives, representing the trend of combining AI with the need to directly support learners, which is becoming one of the biggest development directions of EdTech in Southeast Asia.
AI Hay is a question and answer platform using AI, in which businesses aim to develop features to serve the learning needs of Vietnamese users. In August, they were one of two Vietnamese startups featured in Dealroom's East & Southeast Asia AI Startup Map - a map that tracks startups and companies working prominently in the field of AI in the region.
According to a Vietnamese startup representative, one of the focuses is updating changes in educational programs, regulations and policies so that the system can provide information appropriate to the new context. On the platform, many contents related to documents from management agencies are updated, including information about the AI Education Content Framework for high school students issued in August.
"Monitoring changes in the education industry helps the platform adjust data and features according to the actual needs of students. This is also one of the challenges of AI systems serving education, when information about curriculum, exams, admissions or policies can change with each school year," said AI Hay representative.
Besides product changes, the 2026 list also shows that the Southeast Asian EdTech market is "more mature". Startups under three years old only account for 6% of the list, down sharply from 26% in 2020. Nearly 80% of businesses on the list have been operating for 4 to 8 years - the period when companies move from testing products to expanding scale and market.
Luu Quy