RISE 4: 2 founders, 47 stores, 6 VCS titles in a row

Two founders who each started something new in 2021 speak at RISE 4, Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) Vietnam's afternoon event on Friday 13 November at nanoHome Gallery Saigon.

Vo Duy Phu is co-founder and CEO of Every Half, a coffee brand in Ho Chi Minh City that opened its first store in 2021. TK Nguyen, CEO of GAM, moved into esports in 2021 after more than 15 years in entertainment and nightlife.

How does a coffee chain cut its prices three times and keep growing?

COVID-19 kept Every Half's first store shut for about four months in 2021, the founders told the Vietnamese magazine Phu Nu Moi in 2026. By October, they started selling takeout through a half-open window, tucked away in an alley in District 3, with 20% off every order.

Despite that mid-pandemic start, it grew into a chain:

“In food and beverage, most brands raise prices over time. At Every Half we have cut prices three times, because as our scale improved, we wanted to share that benefit with customers so that high-quality coffee is easier to reach.”
Vo Duy Phu, Phu Nu Moi interview, July 2026

Coffee is a daily drink, so it has to be approachable, which is why Phu rarely calls Every Half “specialty coffee”. DSG Consumer Partners, an investor, described the stores as premium coffee at an accessible price.

Each new branch starts with who it'll serve, what they need and whether the area can support it. In city centers, where offices are dense, stores only 300 to 400 meters apart can work, with about 3,000 to 4,000 potential customers enough for one. Sparser residential areas mean recalculating the size, seats, expected customers and profitability.

Upstream of the stores, Every Half runs a farm-to-cup model, taking part in each step. From developing varieties and processing to fermenting, roasting and serving the coffee. In Dien Bien, Lam Dong and Dak Lak, the chain works with farming households and cooperatives, directly supporting about eight hectares of farmland in 2025, with 18 due in 2026 and a long-term goal of 50.

“When we go deep into the supply chain, we expect better coffee quality, a more reasonable unit cost, and a fairer income for farmers.”
Vo Duy Phu, same interview

Vietnam is the world's biggest Robusta grower, yet the bean has long been seen as a commodity coffee. From the start Every Half set out to show that Vietnam can meet international standards with Robusta as well as Arabica. In 2025 its Fine Robusta won gold at the Global Coffee Awards in the US.

“It's just the right time to change the perception towards Vietnamese coffee.”
Vo Duy Phu

The coffee chain has trialed roasted-bean exports on North American e-commerce platforms since May 2025. That year it raised an $8 million Series A, funded entirely by Openspace Capital and DSG Consumer Partners, for the third time.

How far scale and a deeper supply chain can take Every Half is yours to ask at RISE 4, where Phu gives the opening talk, “Building a Vietnamese Coffee Brand with Global Ambitions”, on how they grew from a hidden alley in Saigon.

From a rooftop to an esports organization

Skylight opened in 2015 in the seaside city of Nha Trang, billed as Vietnam's first rooftop beach club, with service standards imported from US nightlife: bottle parades, personalized signs spelling out guests' names, birthday and anniversary celebrations. Its slogan is: “Creating Memories”.

More than 2.2 million guests came through in ten years, with COVID-19 closing the club for 11 months in 2020.

“People might forget what they purchased, but they'll remember how you made them feel. That philosophy has carried over into how we build GAM.”
TK Nguyen, CEO of GAM Entertainment

Vietnam News called TK “a pioneer and a key driver” in establishing GAM Esports, Vietnam's premier esports team, which plays in the Vietnam Championship Series, the country's top League of Legends league.

TK and his partners acquired GAM through NRG Asia, a partnership with NRG Esports of North America. Professional League of Legends was new ground for them, so the coaches and players stayed the experts in gameplay. His job was the organization and culture around the game, approached like any high-performance sport: mindset, health, skills.

One of TK's most important calls was a rebrand that didn't happen: the club kept the GAM name and its history, including a 2017 run at the Mid-Season Invitational, an international esports tournament. The story stayed Vietnamese. New symbols went on top, the “It's #GAMTIME” tagline and a signature hand sign. At Worlds 2022, League of Legends' world championship, GAM beat China's Top Esports, and thousands at New York's Madison Square Garden chanted “G-A-M”.

“Today, wherever I go, people throw up the GAMTIME hand sign or ask me, ‘What time is it?’ That sense of belonging is exactly what we wanted to create.”
TK Nguyen

The pitch to brands runs on that belonging, in a market of an estimated 54 million gamers. In conversations with FPT's leadership, chairman Truong Gia Binh among them, both sides shared a vision of connecting with the next generation. Vietjet shares the ambition of carrying Vietnamese brands and talent abroad, and Monster Energy and Logitech G were already at home in gaming.

“We're not just selling sponsorships. We're inviting brands to become part of a movement.”
TK Nguyen

The roster won SEA Games gold for Vietnam at home in Hanoi in 2022. In 2026, GAM's Kiaya and Taki and head coach Naul helped Team Vietnam win Asian Games bronze. Riot Games picked GAM as a partner team in its top regional league, the LCP, in 2025. The Esports World Cup made GAM an Official Club Partner in 2026, one of 40 and the only Vietnamese club, and a second Riot Games partnership follows from 2027, in VALORANT's VCT Pacific. TK counts these selections among his proudest.

TK was named Businessman of the Year in esports at the Men's FOLIO Vietnam Male Icon Awards 2025, which he calls “a reflection of the growing legitimacy of esports as an industry and business in Vietnam.”

The Bigger GAMe ends with TK's question for the room: who are you building your brand with? He speaks on Friday at 4:00 PM at RISE 4, then 20 minutes of questions. In TK's words: “Vietnam to the World. It's #GAMTIME!”

What the afternoon holds

The venue is at 675 to 677 Dien Bien Phu, with 50 seats.

For founders and CEOs whose product is good but whose market position still feels too familiar. You leave with peer feedback and new conversations with people building companies in Vietnam.