The archive · AI & Models · Product decision · 2022–2026
AI Hay bets Vietnam's 100M users want Vietnamese-first AI answers; $10M Series A
Former Zalo leaders built a Vietnamese-first AI Q&A app with free, cited answers; 15M downloads and 100M+ monthly questions won a $10M Series A before revenue.
AI Hay
What the business is
A free AI question-and-answer app for Vietnamese users, built on fine-tuned open-source LLMs, curated local content, and community contributions, returning answers with citations.
Starting capital：$10M Series A led by Argor Capital in July 2025, joined by Square Peg, Northstar Ventures, AppWorks and Phoenix Holdings; total raised about $18.5M.
How it started
CEO Tran Quang Duc and CTO Nguyen Tho Chuong left Zalo in early 2022 after ChatGPT convinced them AI was a real opportunity, and launched AI Hay in May–June 2024 to serve Vietnam's roughly 100 million people with Vietnamese-first answers.
What happened
By July 2025 the app had 15M+ downloads, over 100M questions a month, and about 1M daily users. It stayed free (30 questions a month per user; a Pro tier of 1,000 questions a day, free for edu.vn students who invite 10 people), and raised its $10M Series A with no revenue yet.
How it ended up
Still live and scaling: after the Series A, AI Hay is expanding web, education and entertainment products, preparing AI companion assistants, and planning a B2B API business for Vietnamese legal, tax and document data, targeting 100M users and a further round.
Background
Two former Zalo leaders, CEO Tran Quang Duc and CTO Nguyen Tho Chuong, left Vietnam's biggest messaging company in early 2022 after ChatGPT convinced them AI was a real opportunity. With co-founder Hiep Nguyen and a 40-person team, they built AI Hay from scratch, betting that Vietnamese users wanted answers grounded in their own language, culture and local data.
Launched in May–June 2024, the free app gives users 30 questions a month, with a Pro tier of up to 1,000 questions a day that is free for edu.vn students who invite 10 people. By July 2025 it reported 15M+ downloads, over 100M monthly questions and roughly 1M daily users, built on fine-tuned open-source LLMs like LLaMA and Qwen with safety filters and citations.
In July 2025 AI Hay closed a $10M Series A led by Argor Capital with Square Peg, Northstar Ventures, AppWorks and Phoenix Holdings, bringing total funding to about $18.5M despite no revenue. The money funds web expansion, education and entertainment features, AI companion assistants, and a planned B2B API business for Vietnamese legal, tax and document data, aimed at 100M users.
What has to be true
- English-first chatbots underserve Vietnamese language and culture; AI Hay built its product around hyperlocal questions, free pricing and cited answers.
- Founders chose a fresh start over a big-company reboot: Zalo was too large to build something entirely new, so speed came from starting over.
- Traction without revenue can still raise venture capital when the market (100M Vietnamese) and the wedge (language) are clear.
- A free consumer layer plus a future B2B API for legal, tax and document data is the path from adoption to monetization.
What can be applied
A hyperlocal AI product can win millions of users before any revenue by serving a language and culture global chatbots ignore; the challenge is converting free traction into a business.
Aftermath
As of August 2026, AI Hay's latest public milestones remain the July 2025 Series A and its stated roadmap: web expansion, education and entertainment products, AI companion assistants, and a B2B API business tailored to Vietnamese legal, tax and document data, with a goal of growing from about 15M users toward 100M and a further fundraising round.
Sources
- Startup AI của Việt Nam gọi vốn thành công 10 triệu USD
- Bất ngờ một startup Việt gọi vốn lớn ở vòng Series A dù chưa có doanh thu, Founder là cựu sếp Zalo
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