Fresh off a win at the Vietnam Creative Business Cup, Hanoi-based startup DesignBold raked in over US$27,000 in the first three days of its beta phase, a promising sign for the young venture.
The program, which officially launched on October 24, is described by PRWeb as a “Photoshop alternative” and allows the less design-oriented select from a library of over 4,000 editable templates in order to create everything from Instagram photos to business presentations, e-books to Facebook covers.
According to CafeBiz, the DesignBold team is not only gearing up to represent Vietnam in the international Creative Business Cup competition at the end of the month but the company also aims to hit 3,000 subscriptions in its first two weeks. Three days in, the company had already clocked 701 subscriptions at US$39 apiece.
Now, a week and a half into the product’s launch, DesignBold has surpassed 2,000 orders, according to DesignBold project manager Loi Tran.
For DesignBold cofounder Hung Dinh, the startup’s audience has always been an international one.
“In Vietnam, DesignBold not determined to sell software because we know that if you want to sell a US$39 product like we’re selling in the US then it will take about three years to reach 701 orders, not three days,” Dinh wrote on his Facebook page last Friday. “From the day this idea was formed in Israel in January 2016, a global mission has always been the only choice for DesignBold.”
Tran echoes this statement. “Our plan is simple,” the project manager tells Saigoneer via email. “Build the best product there is. Give the users every requested feature. Continually improve DesignBold every single day one step at a time.”
Video via YouTube user DesignBold.
While DesignBold is the latest success story for Vietnam’s startup community, it’s certainly not the first. Already this year, several homegrown apps have secured international funding, from Triip to e-banking app Momo, which received US$28 million from Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs in March. That same month, Vietnamese-made language pronunciation app ELSA won the top prize at SXSWedu’s Launch Startup competition, and Silicon Valley venture capital seed fund 500 Startups launched a US$10 million microfund in Vietnam.
In fact, as early as 2014 – just after the mania of Flappy Bird – experts and tech heads had proclaimed Saigon one of the world’s best cities for startups. Since then, the country’s mobile games developers have made a name for themselves both at home and abroad.
Moving forward, Tran views Vietnam’s ever-expanding startup scene with optimism.
“It’s only going to continue to get better provided that the access to education and support continues to develop the way it has in the recent past,” says the project manager.
For the moment, at least, international investors seem keen to bankroll the limitless potential of Vietnam’s startup community. Even Saigon’s municipal officials have got on board: just last month, the city agreed to put US$45 million into the development of the southern hub’s startup community. With strong support and solid investment, it’s likely Vietnam will see more companies like DesignBold flourishing in future.
[Photo via DesignBold]
