By Tony Low · AI in APAC · November 4, 2026

Enfarm, a Vietnamese agricultural-technology startup, has taken the top prize at the 2nd AI Startup Award, beating finalists from South Korea, Singapore, India and China at the 19th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK 2026) in Seoul.

Enfarm was one of five finalists selected from thousands of contenders across Asia, each representing a different country. In the final round, founders had three minutes to pitch before a live Q&A with senior German government and business leaders, with the winner decided by a vote among roughly 800 delegates at the conference. Enfarm’s co-founder and CEO, Nguyen Do Dung, received the trophy from Germany’s Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Stefan Rouenhoff, and Siemens chairman and CEO Roland Busch.

The win caps two years of development for Enfarm, which builds low-cost soil sensors — priced at roughly $25 each — that use AI models trained on soil-sample data to estimate nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, moisture and pH levels with what the company calls lab-like precision. Readings feed into a smartphone app that gives farmers real-time recommendations on watering and fertilizer use. In field trials on coffee farms in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, the company has reported a 30 percent cut in fertilizer use alongside a 30 percent rise in yields. Enfarm raised a seed round led by Touchstone Partners, with participation from Aiviet Venture and Conservation Vietnam, in late 2024, and has said it plans to expand into other ASEAN markets.

“Representing Viet Nam at APK was already a source of pride,” Dung said after the win. “Having the opportunity to engage directly with delegates and receive the highest number of votes from leading business executives is a tremendous recognition for those of us working in technology, particularly agricultural technology developed in Viet Nam. This victory belongs to the farmers who have accompanied us, embraced new approaches, and placed their trust in Vietnamese technology engineers.”

Source: Nhan Dan, “Vietnamese startup wins top prize at AI Startup Award 2026,” November 2, 2026.

Tony Low covers the technical and functional side of AI deployment across the region for AIAPAC.ai Insights.