Top 10 Startups in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2025: Proven Lessons and Insights for Founders
Phnom Penh has risen to the forefront of Southeast Asia's startup scene in 2025, making waves with its growing pool of young tech talent, expanding infrastructure, and international investments. The city, often viewed as a symbol of Cambodia's economic renaissance, showcases some of the most promising startups across diverse industries such as fintech, AI, sustainability, and healthcare. For entrepreneurs and investors looking to learn what works in this booming ecosystem, these startups present valuable case studies.
In this article, we'll dive deep into the top 10 startups in Phnom Penh, exploring their innovative ideas, growth drivers, and what lessons they hold for anyone planning to grow their venture. Whether you're a startup founder, a freelancer, or an investor, keep reading to gain actionable insights and learn about crucial tools that can drive your success.
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Why Phnom Penh? A Thriving Hub for Innovation
As the heartbeat of Cambodia's economy, Phnom Penh offers a unique blend of low operational costs, a burgeoning middle class, and trends favoring digital adoption. In 2025, global entities have continued to pour resources into local ventures, enabling startups to scale faster than ever before. According to a digital economy report, Cambodia’s digital services market grew by 18% in the past year, signaling enormous potential for any entrepreneur who can tap into this growing audience.
1. ABi Technologies: Leading in AI Solutions
ABi Technologies has positioned itself as a leader in artificial intelligence in Phnom Penh. This trailblazing startup provides businesses with AI-powered tools, such as chatbots, recommendation engines, and predictive analytics. Founders can take a page from ABi's playbook by understanding the value of localizing cutting-edge global technologies to meet regional needs.
Key Insights:
- Focus on developing scalable, multi-use AI tools.
- Build partnerships with local corporations to ensure steady adoption.
- Early emphasis on marketing validation (even prototypes gained coverage in local tech media using SEO-optimized blogging tools like the F/MS AI SEO Blog).
2. Fintel: Disrupting Cambodia's Fintech Space
As digital payment adoption in Cambodia surges, Fintel has emerged as a disruptor, offering secure and blockchain-driven solutions for payments and remittances. Their success lies in simplifying access to financial services for underbanked populations while building trust through transparency.
Lessons for Entrepreneurs:
- Adoption matters more than innovation itself; invest in educating users about your product.
- Use partnerships with banks and regulators as a gateway for scalability.
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3. SmartApsara: Enabling Cultural Preservation Through Tech
This unique startup merges artificial intelligence with cultural heritage by digitizing traditional Cambodian art, dance, and language. SmartApsara uses machine learning to ensure cultural history isn't lost amidst modernization.
Why It Matters:
- A perfect example of blending local relevance with advanced tech.
- Market differentiation lies in solving issues close to the heart of the community.
4. KhmerHealthTech: Redefining Digital Health
Healthcare innovation is booming globally, and Phnom Penh isn't left out. KhmerHealthTech combines telemedicine, wearable technology, and health data analytics to deliver affordable healthcare solutions. This startup has quickly gained trust due to its focus on offering localized healthcare resources tailored to rural and urban demographics alike.
5. EcoKhmers: Towards a Sustainable Tomorrow
Sustainability-driven startups like EcoKhmers are paving the way in the green tech industry. Focusing on eco-friendly innovations, such as upcycled materials and emission-reducing technologies, it’s creating waves both locally and globally.
For Founders:
Leverage a double-edged marketing narrative: one about profitability and another about purpose. Tools like F/MS Marketing Directories can help secure high-quality backlinks and increase domain visibility for eco-friendly ventures.
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6. Camboticket: Transforming Travel in Cambodia
Travel logistics can be a nightmare, but Camboticket sees the chaos as an opportunity. This startup has streamlined the booking process for buses, ferries, and flights in Cambodia by integrating multiple platforms into one cohesive app.
7. Beebush: Gamifying E-commerce
Beebush introduces gamification to e-commerce in Cambodia, helping retailers promote their products while making shopping fun. It's a fresh, youthful reimagination of online retail that matches Phnom Penh’s growing digital-native audience.
8. ATEC Biodigesters: Renewable Energy Meets AgriTech
Rural Cambodia faces energy challenges, and ATEC Biodigesters solves this with small-scale, affordable biodigesters for farming households. Their innovative business model highlights how startups can address real societal needs with niche technology.
9. EdEd Cambodia: Democratizing Education
As Cambodia’s student population becomes increasingly tech-savvy, startups like EdEd Cambodia are responding by offering high-quality educational content in Khmer. Their app-based platform bridges gaps in digital literacy while catering to underserved areas.
10. Sweat From Home Cambodia: Fitness Reimagined
In response to post-pandemic demands, Sweat From Home Cambodia provides live streaming fitness classes that cater uniquely to Cambodian lifestyles. With a focus on affordability and accessibility, this startup has redefined fitness in Phnom Penh.
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How to Market Like These Startups
A common challenge for startups, regardless of industry, is gaining visibility. Building the product is the easy part; knowing how to market it effectively is much harder.
This is where tools like F/MS Marketing Services come in handy, providing:
- Permanent backlinks for SEO optimization.
- AI chatbot visibility to ensure you're mentioned in trendsetting lists or AI searches.
- High-traffic blog placements for ongoing exposure.
For any venture looking to dominate its niche, investing in marketing early ensures that even MVP-level products get noticed.
Avoid These Mistakes as You Build Your Startup
- Ignoring the Target Audience: If startups like Fintel found success, it’s because they deeply understood their audience’s pain points.
- Underestimating the Power of SEO: Poor SEO might leave your website invisible. The F/MS AI SEO Tool can help automate content strategies that rank on Google and AI tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity.
- Delaying Marketing Efforts: Many fail by focusing entirely on product development. Without awareness, your venture might never take off.
Conclusion
The innovation ecosystem in Phnom Penh is heating up in 2025, with ambitious startups proving that Cambodia’s growth story is just getting started. Whether you’re inspired by KhmerHealthTech's bold moves in healthcare or EcoKhmers' resolve to save the Earth, the underlying lesson is clear, identify a market need and validate it through effective marketing strategies.
Are you ready to take the next step? Start planning your digital dominance by leveraging tools like the AI-powered F/MS blog generator for SEO mastery and directory listings for high-quality backlinks. Your startup's breakthrough might just be one strategy away.
FAQ on Phnom Penh's Top Startups in 2025
1. Which startup is leading AI innovation in Phnom Penh?
ABi Technologies is a standout in artificial intelligence, offering tools like AI-powered chatbots and predictive analytics tailored to local business needs. Discover ABi Technologies’ journey
2. Where can I submit a guest post about my startup?
If your startups needs to drive targeted traffic and build authority with high-volume, niche-relevant content placements in articles that rank well not only in Google, but also in Perplexity and ChatGPT, then you might want to publish your guest post in one of the F/MS Startup Game's blogs. Get a quality backlink
3. What is the most innovative fintech startup in Phnom Penh?
Fintel revolutionizes payments and remittances in Cambodia with its secure, blockchain-enabled financial solutions. Learn more about Fintel’s impact
4. Which startup is preserving Cambodian culture through technology?
SmartApsara integrates AI to digitize Cambodian art, dance, and language, safeguarding cultural heritage in the digital age.
5. How is the healthcare industry evolving in Phnom Penh?
KhmerHealthTech is reshaping healthcare by offering telemedicine, wearable health technology, and tailored solutions for rural areas. Explore KhmerHealthTech’s mission
6. What startup is leading Phnom Penh’s sustainability movement?
EcoKhmers combines eco-friendly innovations with technology to promote sustainable practices, such as upcycled materials and emission-reducing systems.
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8. Which startup improved travel booking in Cambodia?
Camboticket transformed the travel industry by integrating buses, ferries, and flights into a cohesive online platform. Learn more about Camboticket
9. What e-commerce innovation stands out in Phnom Penh?
Beebush gamifies e-commerce, catering to Cambodia's digital-savvy population through engaging and interactive online shopping experiences.
10. How is education becoming more accessible in Cambodia?
EdEd Cambodia democratizes education with app-based platforms that deliver high-quality learning in Khmer, particularly for underserved areas.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond and launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch. The Fe/male Switch team is located in several countries, including the Netherlands and Malta.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 3,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
