Da Nang Emerges as Rising Innovation Hub through Hacker Residency 2025

The Hacker Residency Da Nang 2025 program concluded its month-long innovation journey on November 29 with a dynamic Demo Day featuring 13 international startup teams who spent 30 days building AI-native and software products on the Son Tra Peninsula.

Launched by the Silicon Valley–founded Hacker Residency Group (HRG), this year’s program brought together founders from the United States, Singapore, India, Korea, Canada and Southeast Asia. DataHouse, a global technology consulting firm operating across the U.S., Vietnam and the Philippines, played a central role not only as a sponsor but also as a co-organizer, marking a significant moment in positioning Da Nang as an emerging regional technology hub.

Demo Day welcomed an impressive lineup of international technology partners, including CodeRabbit, OpenRouter, n8n, Stainless, Parallel, Cognition, Anything and Exa, whose involvement reflects the growing appeal of Da Nang to global builders. Even before the program began, the 2025 cohort demonstrated strong traction, with ten out of thirteen teams working on AI-native solutions and a combined bootstrapped monthly recurring revenue of more than USD 300,000. Many of their products have already served hundreds of thousands of users worldwide. During Demo Day, teams showcased their progress using a YC-style two-minute pitch format, focusing on shipped features and real execution rather than traditional investor slide decks.

Over the course of the residency, which ran from November 1 to 30, participants lived and worked at Marisol Villa in Son Tra, embracing a builder-first model centered on rapid prototyping, continuous iteration and public progress sharing. Throughout the month, founders engaged in weekly product demos, received one-on-one mentorship on fundraising, go-to-market strategy and technical execution, and gained exposure to investors from the U.S., Singapore and Southeast Asia. The residency also immersed founders into Da Nang’s growing local tech ecosystem. This year’s program attracted more than 400 applications from over 25 countries and drew the attention of well-known venture firms such as Zinance Ventures, Antler and Golden Gate Ventures.

Global indie developers gathered for the Hacker Residency Program 2025

During the Demo Day event, Mr. Vo Duc Anh, Deputy Director of the Da Nang Innovation Startup Support Center (DISSC), reiterated the city’s long-term vision toward 2030, which includes supporting approximately 600 innovation projects, nurturing at least 500 startups and seeing at least one unicorn emerge from the local ecosystem. He emphasized that Da Nang’s ongoing sandbox policies, streamlined business environment, and the future Da Nang International Financial Center are key components of the city’s strategy to create an enabling environment for global technology builders.

 
Mr. Vo Duc Anh presented gifts to all 13 participants and the founders

DataHouse distinguished itself this year through its hands-on involvement in the program. Beyond its sponsorship role, the company coordinated logistics with HRG, supported on-site operations throughout the residency and facilitated connections between the builders and local stakeholders. By actively participating in the residency’s execution, DataHouse strengthened Da Nang’s visibility within the global innovation landscape. With a legacy of nearly 50 years delivering enterprise technology solutions across government, healthcare, education and financial sectors, the company continues to position itself as a trusted innovation partner for organizations in Vietnam and abroad.

Hacker Residency Da Nang 2025 highlighted the accelerating momentum behind AI-native and indie-hacker-driven product development. The innovations showcased, ranging from cinematic AI video creation and multi-agent systems to next-generation productivity platforms and health-tech applications, demonstrated the diversity and depth of the emerging global builder community choosing Da Nang as a launchpad. Planning for the 2026 batch is already underway, signaling deeper collaboration between HRG, DataHouse and the region’s expanding startup ecosystem.

As Da Nang continues its transformation into a coastal innovation capital, the success of Hacker Residency 2025 marks an important step in shaping the city’s global technology identity and reinforcing its role in the future of innovation across Asia.

Han Luong (Vietnam Business Forum)