Singapore-based Fintech News has listed five Vietnamese startups which were the most well-funded in 2018, at a time when fintech development is accelerating in Vietnam with companies in the sector attracting US$117 million, the largest funding among Vietnamese startups in 2018.
Source: Topica Founder Institute.
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Vietnam’s rapidly evolving fintech sector has been largely driven the country’s young, digitally-savvy population, the high mobile phone and Internet penetration rate and the government’s push to curb cash usage and promote digital payments.
Vietnam’s decision to become cashless by 2020 was announced in 2017 and already progress in this regard can be seen. Payments through mobile banking services have surged by a whopping 144% per year over the past five years, and cashless payments more than doubled in value over the first three quarters of 2018.
The following five startups are among the most well-funded fintech companies in Vietnam based on disclosed funding.
M_Service – US$133.8 million
M_Service provides financial service to the low-income population in Vietnam through mobile phone technology under the brand name of MoMo. MoMo started out offering an e-wallet and mobile payment app, enabling users to pay online and make peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers. It has since expanded into utility bills payments, games credit, mobile top ups, as well as areas like movie tickets, airline flights and payment for goods and services at 100,000 payment points nationwide, including popular chains. The service recently began offering bill payment for loans.
As of October 2018, MoMo had nearly 10 million users on both iOS and Android. The startup has raised US$133.8 million in funding so far, according to Crunchbase.
TomoChain – US$8.5 million
TomoChain is a public blockchain promising faster and cheaper transactions designed to support decentralized applications. TomoChain relies on a system of 150 Masternodes with Proof of Stake Voting (POSV) consensus that can support near-zero fees and two second transaction confirmation time. The TomoChain network aims at being a public Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) compatible blockchain with faster and cheaper transaction fees, among other features and promises.
After two years of research and development, TomoChain launched its mainnet in December 2018. The startup raised US$8.5 million in its initial coin offering (ICO) last year and is backed by several well-known investment firms like Signum Capital, Connect Capital and 1KX.
Tima – US$3 million
Founded in 2015, Tima is a consumer financial marketplace and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform. The company has signed partnerships with financial institutions, including VietinBank and Nam A Bank, and claims to have disbursed about US$1.7 billion in loans to 2.8 million borrowers and over 30,000 lenders on its platform.
Tima claims to have raised a US$3 million Series B funding round in October at a near US$20 million valuation and recently began the process of raising a Series C investment round after hiring former LendingClub COO John Donovan to its board of directors.
Finhay – US$1.1 million
Launched in 2017, Finhay is a wealth management platform enabling millennials to micro-invest in mutual funds in Vietnam starting with as little as VND50,000 (about US$2). The platform has more than 13,000 users with total investment of over VND7 billion (US$299,145). The company has also partnered with 18 mutual fund companies and banks to facilitate transactions.
Finhay is backed by Australia-based H2 Ventures, VNDirect Securities Joint Stock Company, and others. It raised nearly US$1 million in funding from Singapore-based Insigna Venture Partners and other investors earlier this year, bringing the total funding raised so far to about US$1.1 million.
OnOnPay – US$800,000
OnOnPay relies on a network of partnered brick-and-mortar businesses which act as “branches.” When consumers need to top up their mobile payment accounts, they give the store owner the same amount in cash. OnOnpay has around 3,000 such transaction points.
The company raised US$800,000 in November 2016 from the Malaysian Government’s Gobi Partners Fund.
