Author: Fintech News Vietnam

Southeast Asian superapp Grab announced the appointment of Alejandro Osorio as its Managing Director in Vietnam. In his new role, Alejandro will be overseeing the business strategy and operations across all of Grab’s businesses in the country. Alejandro most recently served as Managing Director of Grab Thailand for 2 years and was previously Director for Regional Strategy & Planning in Singapore. He will be succeeding Nguyen Thai Hai Van who had stepped down from her role in April to join Apple as its country director. Having launched in Vietnam in 2014, Grab said that it aims to “leverage the power…

2021 was a record year for venture capital (VC) investments in Vietnam, driven by a maturing technology startup ecosystem, an increasing number of later stage investments, and rising participation from both local and foreign investors eager to tap into Vietnam’s burgeoning digital economy, a new report by Silverhorn says. In a new Silverhorn Perspective note, released in October 2022, the investment firm looks at one of Southeast Asia’s new tiger economies, delving into Vietnam’s booming VC investment landscape. According to the report, VC funding in Vietnam reached a record of US$1.4 billion in 2021, a sum that represents a 60%…

The Vietnamese card payments market is expected to grow by 23.8% to reach VND859.2 trillion (US$37.6 billion) in 2022, according to a report by GlobalData. According to the data and analytics firm, this growth is supported by rising consumer spending and the government’s push for digital payments. The report found that the value of card payments in Vietnam registered a growth of 13.7% in 2021, raising sharply from a subdued growth of 2.2% in 2020 due to reduced consumer spending amid the pandemic. A gradual economy recovery and the opening up of businesses led the country’s card payments market to…

Vietnamese Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) firm Fundiin announced that it has secured US$5 million in a Series A funding round that was co-led by Trihill Capital and ThinkZone Ventures. Additional investors who had joined the financing round include 1982 Ventures, Genesia Ventures, JAFCO Asia, Zone Startups Ventures as well as angel investor Do Thu Ngan, Deputy CEO of Sacombank. According to Fundiin, the new funds will be used to invest in the development of new products and bolster its team as it plans to expand to Indonesia in the upcoming Series B round. Fundiin also revealed that it plans…

Insurtech firm Igloo has partnered with e-commerce platform Shopee to roll out its Home Content Insurance offering in Vietnam. Underwritten by Bao Viet Insurance, the offering is a comprehensive protection solution for indoor assets against unexpected events such as natural disasters and fire. Besides protection of indoor assets against natural calamities, the insurance product also has rent insurance which covers loss of rent and additional expenses incurred as a result of an insured event. The product is currently available on Shopee starting at a premium of VND 83,999 (approximately US$3.5) for one year and up to VND 100,000,000 (approximately US$…

Vietnamese digital bank Timo and OpenWay, a digital banking and payment software platform, received the Vietnam Technology Excellence Award for Payments Software for its digital banking platform. The award programme recognises major breakthroughs and innovative ways that technology is used or developed in the Vietnamese market. In 2019, the bank partnered with Viet Capital Bank and OpenWay, the provider of digital payments software platform Way4, to enable it to offer innovative services through the Timo app. This includes smart financial management tools, payments, savings and investments, lending, social spending, instalments, cards, and campaigns with third-party vendors, available on multiple digital…

Vietnam-based digital bank Timo announced that its Chief Financial Officer, Jonas Eichhorst has been promoted as CEO and will retain his position on the board of directors. In his new leadership role, Jonas will continue to work closely with Henry and the senior leadership team at Timo. Over the past 15 years, Jonas has supported the development of a wide range of high-scale products and businesses across various emerging markets. Having first joined Timo’s Board in 2020, Jonas took on the CFO position in 2021. Meanwhile, Timo’s former CEO Henry Nguyen has been promoted as an Executive Chairman. Henry will…

Vietnamese ride-hailing startup Be Group announced that it has secured a loan facility of approximately US$60 million from Deutsche Bank with the option to increase the financing up to US$100 million. Be Group said that it will use the funds to fuel its expansion plans. The loan facility will also be utilised to ramp up its main services which include its ride-hailing, food delivery services as well as its digital bank arm Cake which was launched in partnership with VPBank. The firm said that it is aiming to roll out a consumer lending product with instant approvals that will be co-branded with…

Nano, Vietnam’s Earned Wage Access (EWA) provider, announced that it has raised US$6.4 million in an oversubscribed pre-Series A funding round led by Openspace, the early backer of Gojek, Kumu and Finhay. New investors that participated include Partech Partners, Tekton Ventures, KVision, IT Farma and Sketchnote Partners. Existing backers Golden Gate Ventures, FEBE Ventures, FJLabs, Venturra, TO Ventures, ACE & Company and Goodwater Capital also joined the round. Following the funding, Nano said that it is seeking to offer a broader range of benefits solutions and become the go-to financial platform for low-income workers in the country. The company will…

In Vietnam, although financial institutions have realised the potential of open banking to enable more inclusive and accessible financial services, a patchy legal framework is hampering their efforts to join the data revolution. Praising the opportunities brought about data sharing, Nguyen Quoc Hung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Banks Association, told Vietnam Investment Review in a recent interview that open banking allows financial institutions to collaborate with other stakeholders, enabling them to be part of the embedded finance movement where banking services are offered in a contextual and seamless manner at the right time and at the right place. Open…

Anfin, a Vietnam-based fintech firm with a proprietary stock trading platform, announced it has raised US$4.8 million in its pre-Series A funding round. The round was led by angel investor Clement Benoit, Founder of Stuart & Not so Dark as well as Y Combinator. Other notable investors including Rebel VC, Kharis Capital, Newman Capital, First Chek Ventures, Micro Ventures, Springcamp, and AngelHub also participated in the round. The funds will be deployed towards strengthening Anfin’s product development especially its social investment product which lets users host and join live audio rooms. Through the use of tech-enabled profiling and risk assessment,…

Vietnam’s digital investment platform Finhay has secured a US$25 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Openspace Ventures and VIG. Other participants in the funding round include Insignia, TVS, Headline, TNBAura and IVC. Finhay said that the new capital will be used to invest in strategic business expansion, talent acquisition and technology development. Alongside this fundraising, Finhay has bolstered its position with the acquisition of a securities brokerage, making it a licensed digital investment platform in Vietnam. Finhay has already doubled its team size in the past year, with 50 new employees joining the business, and has also…

Houze, a proptech startup based in Vietnam that offers a fully integrated real estate ecosystem for agents and customers through its offline-to-online platform, has raised US$2 million in a funding led by DKRA Group. DKRA Group is a major real estate service brand in Vietnam with more than 10 years of operation and development, providing comprehensive solutions from market research, investment consulting, marketing and distribution, building management. According to Houze, these funds will be used to bolster its leadership team as well as enhance its core product. In addition to that, a strategic partnership with DKRA Group creates the advantage…

Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) has selected banking software company Temenos to modernise its core banking system. MSB is one of the largest commercial banks in Vietnam, with nearly 3.1 million retail and 64,300 corporate customers. The bank said in a statement that replacing multiple homegrown and legacy systems with Temenos’ open platform for composable banking will transform it into an agile, future-ready bank. With Temenos core banking solutions for retail and corporate banking, including analytics, payments and data lake capabilities, MSB added that it will be able to bring innovative new products to market much faster at…

Insurtech unicorn bolttech announced that it has partnered with Vietnam’s telecommunications network operator Viettel Telecom. The partnership launched insurance offerings, powered by bolttech’s insurance exchange platform, on Viettel’s customer app MyViettel. The offerings include health, travel, home, car, and motorbike insurance products. bolttech has cooperated with Viettel and reputable insurers to create an insurance ecosystem that offers a range of product options to meet the different needs of Viettel’s customers. The partnership with Viettel Telecom is another step in bolttech’s partner-led expansion strategy for the market. bolttech is currently present in 30 markets across 3 continents namely North America, Asia,…

2021 was a blockbuster year for Vietnamese fintech startups: established players gained traction on the back of rapid digital adoption due to COVID-19, and global investors poured millions into the sector to support the growth of promising ventures. Last year, Vietnam took the third spot in fintech funding in Southeast Asia, behind only Singapore and Indonesia, according to the Fintech in ASEAN 2021 report by UOB, PwC Singapore, and the Singapore Fintech Association. Vietnamese fintech companies secured almost a tenth of the total 167 deals, amounting to US$388 million in funding, and attracted two out of the region’s 13 US$100…

Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) announced that it has selected Temenos, a banking software company, to accelerate its digital transformation. SHB is one of the largest joint-stock commercial banks in Vietnam, serving more than five million individual and corporate customers. Adopting the digital banking capabilities on top of Temenos open platform for composable banking will enable SHB to deliver a consistent, seamless experience across multiple channels. Following the State Bank of Vietnam’s plan for digital transformation, SHB has followed suit by focusing on building a digital corporate culture and investing in IT systems. The digital banking capabilities of Temenos open platform will…

Vietnam’s IT firm FPT Software announced that it has formed a partnership with Squirro, a Switzerland-based augmented intelligence solutions provider. Through this partnership, the two companies will offer their customers comprehensive enterprise solutions backed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to leverage data to its full potential, make better-informed decisions and drive business growth. The partnership between FPT Software and Squirro will bring value to companies from various industries such as banking and finance, healthcare, manufacturing, among others. With digital consulting experience, fast delivery capability and a presence in 26 countries, FPT Software can help Squirro strengthen its positioning and expand its…

Trusting Social, a Vietnam-based AI-powered credit scoring platform, announced that it has secured US$ 65 million for the initial close of its Series C funding round from The Sherpa Company, a subsidiary of Masan Group. According to DealStreetAsia, Masan now holds a 25% stake in Trusting Social with this investment. Both entities said in a statement that they intend to develop an AI-powered consumer tech platform that will offer customised retail and consumer financial products to serve 27 million families in Vietnam with this strategic collaboration. It will provide convenient access to personalised fintech solutions for Masan’s consumers by combining…

2021 was a fruitful year for Vietnam’s fintech sector which saw rising consumer adoption of digital financial solutions amid COVID-19 restrictions and continued investor interest in the growth prospect of the sector. Vietnamese fintech companies raised a total of US$375 million in the first nine months of 2021, putting the country at the 3rd position in fintech investment amount across ASEAN, behind only Singapore and Indonesia, according to the Fintech in ASEAN 2021 report by UOB, PwC Singapore and the Singapore Fintech Association. While the biggest deal went to VNPay (US$250 million Series B), two-thirds of the year’s rounds were…