As Southeast Asia cements its position as a global growth hub, entrepreneurs are increasingly looking to the region for startup opportunities. Two cities, in particular, stand out: Hanoi, Vietnam’s fast-developing capital, and Singapore, a long-established financial and innovation center. Each offers distinct advantage and different challenges depending on the nature of your venture, your capital runway, and your long-term goals. Here’s a breakdown of how the two compare as startup locations.
1. Economic Climate & Government Support
Singapore has long positioned itself as a business-friendly environment. With strong intellectual property protections, political stability, and high rankings on ease-of-doing-business indexes, it’s a favored destination for multinational HQs and well-capitalized startups. Government support is extensive: Enterprise Singapore and other agencies offer grants, subsidies, and accelerator programs for early-stage companies. The country’s strong legal framework and reliable institutions make it ideal for fintech, deep tech, and healthtech ventures requiring regulatory clarity.
Hanoi, while historically more opaque in regulatory terms, is catching up fast. Vietnam’s government has prioritized startup development through the National Innovation Center and initiatives like Vietnam Startup Day. Hanoi, as the political heart of the country, benefits from proximity to decision-makers and government support for strategic industries like AI, biotech, and green energy. While the legal environment remains more ambiguous than Singapore’s, Vietnam has significantly reformed its investment laws, and foreign ownership rules are easing in key sectors.
Advantage: Singapore for predictable governance; Hanoi for dynamic reforms and rising state support.
2. Cost of Living and Operating
Singapore is consistently ranked among the most expensive cities in the world. Office rent, talent, housing, and daily expenses add up quickly. While the infrastructure is unmatched, startups with limited funding may struggle to stay afloat during the early bootstrapping stage. Co-working spaces and lean operations can mitigate this somewhat, but burn rates are high, and early profitability becomes a necessity.
Hanoi, on the other hand, offers exceptional affordability. Rent, salaries, and living costs are a fraction of Singapore’s. A two-person founding team could live and work comfortably in Hanoi on less than $2,000 USD per month. This low burn rate makes Hanoi ideal for pre-seed and seed-stage startups, or those prioritizing long R&D cycles or slower scaling.
Advantage: Hanoi, especially for early-stage founders or product development phases.
3. Talent Pool & Education System
Singapore boasts one of the best-educated workforces in Asia, with strong English proficiency, technical expertise, and a cosmopolitan mindset. Its universities and polytechnics produce a steady stream of skilled engineers, data scientists, and business graduates. The government also makes it relatively easy to bring in foreign workers, though this is changing amid rising nationalistic pressure to prioritize locals.
Hanoi has a younger, fast-expanding talent pool. Vietnam produces over 400,000 STEM graduates annually, many from Hanoi’s top universities like Vietnam National University and Hanoi University of Science and Technology. While English proficiency isn’t as widespread as in Singapore, technical competence is high and improving. Vietnam also has a growing culture of entrepreneurship, especially in tech, creative services, and e-commerce.
Advantage: Singapore for global-ready teams; Hanoi for abundant, affordable engineering talent.
4. Infrastructure and Connectivity
Singapore leads the world in infrastructure. Its transport, internet, power supply, and digital services are all first-class. Changi Airport serves as a regional aviation hub, and Singapore’s time zone conveniently bridges US and European markets. Its data centers and connectivity make it ideal for SaaS and cloud-native businesses.
Hanoi’s infrastructure is improving but uneven. Internet speeds are fast and reliable in central areas, but transport remains congested, and urban planning is still adapting to fast-paced growth. That said, Vietnam has aggressively rolled out 5G, and Hanoi is one of the test cities for smart infrastructure initiatives. Flights out of Hanoi connect well to regional hubs like Bangkok, Seoul, and Tokyo, but international access still lags behind Singapore.
Advantage: Singapore, though Hanoi is improving rapidly.
5. Market Access and Regional Positioning
Singapore offers unparalleled access to Southeast Asian markets. As a financial hub, it’s ideal for raising capital and forming partnerships with regional players. Many global VCs are headquartered or active there, making it easier to network and raise funding rounds.
Hanoi, while not a fundraising hub, offers easier access to Vietnam’s 100-million-strong domestic market, a young, growing, increasingly online population. It’s also a great base for startups targeting frontier markets in Southeast Asia (e.g., Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar), especially for consumer goods, fintech, and logistics.
Advantage: Singapore for regional finance; Hanoi for grassroots growth in emerging markets.
6. Regulatory and IP Environment
Singapore has the edge in rule of law, contract enforcement, and intellectual property protection. For startups in highly regulated sectors: fintech, medtech, or legaltech. It offers a transparent, navigable path. Its reputation as a “regulatory sandbox” makes it ideal for global-facing innovation.
Hanoi still suffers from perceptions of bureaucratic red tape, inconsistent enforcement, and weak IP protections. However, foreign investors have seen improvement in recent years, and Vietnam is party to multiple trade agreements (e.g., CPTPP, RCEP, EVFTA) that are helping to harmonize its legal frameworks with international standards.
Advantage: Singapore, but Hanoi is a worthwhile bet for those comfortable with calculated legal risk.
Conclusion
Singapore is the better choice for startups with capital, a global focus, or regulatory sensitivity. It provides a stable, highly developed environment where scale and polish can happen fast. It’s a safe bet, but often an expensive one.
Hanoi is scrappier, cheaper, and filled with under-the-radar potential. It’s an ideal launchpad for founders focused on product-market fit, long-term innovation, or regional grassroots growth. You’ll have to navigate more ambiguity, but for many, the upside is worth it.
In short: Go to Singapore to scale. Go to Hanoi to build.
