- Vietnamese tech star suspends startups amid legal troubles.
- JobHopin faces AI credibility questions and funding woes.
- Pivot to employee engagement platform encounters skepticism from alleged clients.
Tech drama: Vietnamese edition
Kevin Tung Nguyen, a prominent figure in Vietnam’s tech scene, has temporarily halted operations at his startups JobHopin and Skola.
The suspension comes amid a legal dispute with his wife over Skola’s ownership and an ongoing investigation by Vietnam’s Police Department for Economic.
Crimes regarding alleged fund misappropriation at Skola. Nguyen, however, maintains his innocence in the face of these allegations.
AI dreams meet reality check
JobHopin, once a rising star in AI-powered recruitment, faced significant setbacks in 2023. The company failed to secure a $15.6 million Series B round and saw its workforce shrink from nearly 200 employees to just eight.
Former employees have raised questions about JobHopin’s AI capabilities, suggesting that much of the candidate sourcing was still done manually.
Despite these challenges, Nguyen insists that JobHopin’s AI model was genuine, capable of analyzing unstructured data from various platforms.
Pivot or plummet?
In response to a crowding recruitment market, Nguyen attempted to pivot JobHopin towards selling its “AI engine” to clients and launched ikiHop, a gamified employee engagement platform.
However, this new direction has faced its own hurdles, with some listed clients denying active use of the platform.
As the dust settles, the tech community watches closely to see if these once-promising startups can navigate through their current challenges and regain their footing in Vietnam’s competitive tech landscape.
To read the original article: https://www.techinasia.com/vietnamese-tech-star-suspends-startups-amid-legal-dispute-police-probe
