Vietnamese fintech companies energized with foreign capital Foreign investors have begun to eye Vietnamese fintech companies.  VNPT Epay, one of the three largest e-payment service providers, has confirmed that a 62.25 percent stake has been transferred to UTC Investment from South Korea. The stake was sold by VMG, one of the founding shareholders of VNPT Epay. The other founding shareholder is the Vietnam Post & Telecommunication Group (VNPT). TechinAsia reported that OnOnPay, a top-up tool for prepaid mobile subscribers, has received investment capital of $800,000 from Gobi Partners, a Chinese fund. The capital will be disbursed in different stages to upgrade service infrastructure and develop technology. OnOnPay is a startup established in early 2015. It received investment capital from Captii Ventures before. Declining to give details about profits, Bui Sy Phong, the founder and CEO, said OnOnPay has strong growth. “We are targeting a market with 90 million people, where only 30 percent of people have bank accounts, while smartphones and internet are very popular,” he said. After receiving new capital, the fintech industry wants to reach out to the South East Asian markets, such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines in a plan supported by Gobi Partners.
Victor Chua, Gobi Partners’ ASEAN investment director, said not many companies can provide solutions for the market with up to billions of people. This is a large market with high demand for more options for products and services. He believes that OnOnPay can develop well in emerging markets such as Cambodia, Indonesia and Myanmar. Prior to that, in March 2016, M-Service JSC, which owns MoMo e-wallet brand, officially received investment capital worth $28 million from Standard Chartered Private Equity and Goldman Sachs. This is the biggest investment deal for a Vietnamese fintech. A lot of other investment deals have also been announced, though they have a smaller scale. Topica Founder Institute commented that Vietnamese fintech companies have received investments recently. Fintech ranks third among the group of businesses which have successfully called for capital, following e-commerce and media. A survey found that the ecosystem for Vietnamese fintech companies is still small, with just 30 companies. However, the market has become more diverse recently with services not only in payment, but also in capital calls, remittances and data management. While MoMo turns smartphones into e-wallets which allow users to remit money, Ngan Luong focuses on e-commerce payment service. While Payoo allows payment for daily bills, VTPay helps calculate tax and make tax payment. While Loanvi provides a platform for the peer loans among users, Cash2vn allows to transfer kieu hoi (overseas remittance) to Vietnam and Money Lover helps users manage their expenditures. Nam Lich, VNN |
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