Kredivo, an Indonesian Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform, announced its expansion into Vietnam through a joint venture with Phoenix Holding, a family investment company based in the country.
This move comes on the heels of the announcement by FinAccel, Kredivo’s parent company, to go public via a US$2.5 billion SPAC merger earlier this month. The firm had raised US$90 million in 2019 during a Series C funding round to double down on its South East Asian expansion plans.
In Vietnam, Kredivo will partner with VietCredit Joint Stock Company, a finance company, to operate its BNPL business in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese entity, Kredivo Vietnam Joint Stock Company, will be able to leverage Kredivo’s expertise and experience in operating a BNPL firm as well as Phoenix Holding’s extensive network and local knowledge.
Kredivo‘s core products will be launched in stages, starting with bill payments for daily necessities and personal loans, followed by the PayLater feature in e-commerce in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Recent data shows that Vietnam is one of the countries with the lowest credit card penetration in Southeast Asia besides Indonesia and the Philippines, with only 4.1% of the population owning a credit card.
In addition, the credit gap and lack of knowledge about digital payments is a challenge in the country and has resulted in the majority of transactions being carried out in cash.
Valery Crottaz, Chief Operating Officer at Kredivo said,
“The launch of Kredivo in Vietnam as the first market share outside Indonesia is another achievement and milestone to be proud of this year.
Vietnam is a logical choice given the country’s low credit card penetration and a rapidly growing middle class; fast growing e-commerce market; and similar demographic and consumption patterns with Indonesia.”
Ho Minh Tam, Chief Executive Officer of VietCredit said,
“We are very excited to apply the Kredivo digital credit platform to VietCredit’s new products.
We believe that collaboration with Kredivo, in the spirit of open innovation, is a powerful digital transformation driver and can offer customers better products and services, this can improve customer experience and gain a competitive edge in the industry.”
Featured image: Edited from Unsplash