OLLI MAIKA is one of the few high-tech startups in Vietnam committed to developing artificial intelligence (AI) products tailored specifically for Vietnamese users. Founded in 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City, OLLI MAIKA has chosen to focus on voice and natural language communication—an area that holds vast potential for real-life applications but also presents technical challenges due to the tonal and context-rich nature of the Vietnamese language.
The company’s flagship product is the Maika smart speaker, launched in May 2021. It offers features such as smart home control, electronic device management, music streaming, news updates, and radio broadcasting. What sets Maika apart is not the hardware itself, but the built-in Vietnamese-language virtual assistant. At a time when Vietnamese users largely relied on foreign assistants like Alexa or Google Assistant—whose ability to understand Vietnamese remains limited—Maika stands out with its Vietnamese natural language processing (Vietnamese NLP) engine, customized for various local use cases such as traffic and weather information, device control via regional dialects, and conversations with the elderly. After three years on the market, the product has attracted more than 40,000 users—an impressive figure given Vietnam’s still-developing hardware ecosystem.
A major breakthrough in product development was OLLI MAIKA’s ability to recognize voices from different regions of Vietnam, fine-tune the reading voice, and design an interface that is friendly for the average user—areas where foreign products often fall short or cannot be easily localized. By clearly identifying a niche market, building a product model suited to Vietnamese consumer habits, and gradually expanding features, OLLI MAIKA has been able to reduce R&D costs and shorten the product testing cycle.
Beyond the domestic market, OLLI MAIKA also participated in a pitching event organized by JETRO to connect with investors and businesses in Japan, paving the way for international collaboration. One notable outcome of this effort is a strategic partnership with Toshiba Vietnam. The two parties have planned to integrate OLLI MAIKA’s AI technology into Toshiba’s consumer electronics products, not only expanding distribution channels but also serving as a stepping stone for bringing Vietnamese technology to the global stage.
While many Vietnamese startups still struggle to define their market or identify their technological edge, OLLI MAIKA exemplifies a model that starts with a local market focus and scales toward global integration—rooted in technology, yet centered on the local user experience.
With a continued commitment to developing AI products centered around the Vietnamese language and an ambition to expand into international markets, OLLI MAIKA is emerging as a pioneer in transforming advanced technologies into relatable, practical products that carry a distinctly Vietnamese identity. Their story is a testament to the creative potential of Vietnam’s startup ecosystem—where startups can take control of their technology, own their products, and confidently reach beyond national borders.
