The fifth VietChallenge 2020 - the global entrepreneurship competition for Vietnamese, was launched at a virtual ceremony in Hanoi on March 21.

At the launching ceremony (Photo: VNA) 

The contest is jointly organised by the Association of Vietnamese Students in the US, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union - Hanoi chapter and the office of Project 844 of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Tran Quang Hung, Vice Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union - Hanoi chapter said VietChallenge 2020 will witness new changes, including the division of startups into teams of different fields, a community funding platform for the first time in Vietnam, as well as the debut of a “startups arena 100” and the Vietnam Startup Championship in the US.

The platform Jong Ventures will help startups directly get funding from the community in a quickest manner, and open a new investment channel for individuals and organisations in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the “startups arena 100” will offer a chance for 100 best startups in Vietnam to meet directly with representatives from domestic and international investment funds, startup incubators and investors.

A six-month-mentoring programme will also be available within the framework of the contest to provide financial support and expertise advice for startups.

VietChallenge 2019 begins receiving applications from March 21 via http://vietchalenge.org/ or http://jong.ventures/. A winning team will take US$50,000.

The final round of VietChallenge 2020 in Hanoi and the startups arena 100 are scheduled for August 28-29. The top teams at the final round will attend the Vietnam Startups Championship in the US from October 21-26.

In the four previous editions, VietChallenge attracted more than 800 entries of Vietnamese from 21 nations.