How Vietnam's first startup conquered the Tokyo Stock Exchange
Hybrid Technologies became the first Vietnamese startup to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on 23 December 2021, with an initial market capitalisation of over 1,641 billion VND. The company specialises in custom software development for approximately 250 Japanese clients, with more than 90% of its employees being Vietnamese engineers working in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
CEO Trần Văn Minh, aged 36 at the time of the IPO, founded the company in 2016 — originally named Evolable Asia Solutions Co. — with initial capital of 1 billion VND. The business model is a hybrid: sales and product design are handled in Japan, while all software development is carried out by Vietnamese engineers. The company achieved 200–300% annual growth in its early years.
The Tokyo IPO process took three years and involved an extremely rigorous procedure: adding independent board members, joint auditing, and three rounds of direct interviews from the securities regulator. The greatest challenge came during Covid-19 when revenues fell by 30%, but the team persevered and continued on their listing trajectory.
One month after listing, CEO Minh told VnExpress: "My hair has finally started growing back" — a humorous reference to the stress of the IPO journey. The next objective is achieving a one-billion-dollar unicorn valuation within three to five years through aggressive hiring and a shift towards larger-scale clients.
This event set an important precedent: a technology company built entirely by Vietnamese engineers can list on a developed market without needing global headquarters or an internationally composed management team.
