Singapore – Small-and-medium enterprise (SME) digital financing platform Funding Societies has announced their latest market expansion in Vietnam, marking the company’s fifth market expansion. Said expansion aims to tap into the country’s growing yet financially underserved SME landscape.
Kelvin Teo, co-founder and group CEO at Funding Societies, said, “Since our inception in 2015, our vision is to uplift societies in Southeast Asia. Hence, Vietnam has always been part of our roadmap. This is an opportune time as we ride out of COVID-19, build a solid team with local finTech veteran Ryan Galloway, and secure investment from tech giant VNG. We believe that Vietnam will be one of our largest markets given its enormous potential.”
Earlier this year, Vietnamese tech giant VNG Corporation invested US$22.5m in Funding Societies as part of the fintech company’s US$294m series C+ fundraise, of which US$144m was raised in equity and US$150m in debt lines. Funding Societies also received the support of other notable investors in the funding round, including SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Rapyd Ventures, EDBI, Indies Capital, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, and K3 Ventures, among others.
Through the aforementioned funding, VNG will help Funding Societies to quickly adapt to the local market so it can provide solutions tailored to the unique needs of Vietnamese businesses.
Meanwhile, Ryan Galloway, country director of Funding Societies Vietnam, commented, “Vietnam SMEs don’t have the same access to venture and early-stage capital markets as other Southeast Asian markets, but the Vietnam market is equally as competitive, so Vietnamese entrepreneurs are trained to do more with less. We see lots of opportunity in Vietnam and we’re excited to support the country’s burgeoning SME landscape as we continue to serve the needs of millions of SMEs across Southeast Asia.”
Recently, Funding Societies have invested alongside automotive car marketplace platform CARRO at Bank Index, an Indonesian national Bank. The move serves as a significant milestone in Funding Societies’ entry into the neobanking space.
