Tag: vietnam

Hanoi, Vietnam – Vietnam’s technology solutions and digital entertainment content provider Appota Group has closed a financing round led by Mirae Asset Venture Investment, with participation from other strategic partners. The investment is earmarked for developing the company’s blockchain ecosystem based on its 10-year gaming publishing business.

Anthony Tran, Appota’s group co-founder and COO, commented, “We are excited to have Mirae Venture on this journey. As an Appota investor since 2017, Mirae’s guidance has been crucial to our focus on continuous innovation. This initiative will make blockchain technology more accessible to gamers, developers, and community members.”

One project, ChainVerse, aims to serve hundreds of local independent game studios by removing the steep learning curve and letting developers focus on building great games. Tuan Nguyen, ChainVerse’s CEO, said: “We provide developers with powerful, effective, and affordable tools for integrating blockchain digital assets and reaching 50 million mobile users in Appota’s ecosystem.”

Meanwhile, another project initiative, AceStarter, is a next-generation launchpad that curates and launches world-class blockchain projects globally. The platform is a bridge that connects communities and investors with high-potential, early-stage offerings.

Tran shared, “With ChainVerse and AceStarter, we are well poised to capitalise on opportunities, not unlike the early Internet revolution. Appota will debut products relating to game guilds management platform and web3 game streaming platform by the end of this year.”

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam – Omnicom Media Group (OMG) in Vietnam has announced key appointments to bolster its local core leadership team. They include Trang Tran as head of transformation, Hoang Nguyen as planning director, Uyen Nguyen Diep as strategy director, and San Nguyen as associate planning director.

These appointments are aligned with the agency’s focus on delivering top-notch strategic planning and innovation services to drive accelerated growth for clients’ businesses. In addition, they also follow a slate of new business wins for the agency such as Chanel, Sanofi, Asia Foods, along with the retention of Beiersdorf and Vinamilk.

With more than 14 years of experience, Tran was promoted from his role of business director. Prior to joining OMG, he held various EMEA regional roles at OMD and PHD, working alongside global brands from multiple sectors such as Hewlett Packard, Bethesda, and SC Johnson.

In his new role, Tran will be tasked with simplifying OMG’s operational processes to meet clients’ changing needs, helping them achieve business growth, and driving their digital transformation ambitions.

Meanwhile, Nguyen has previously held media planning roles in Wavemaker, GroupM, and Saatchi & Saatchi, serving a diverse range of clients including Masan, Nestle, Perfetti, and Samsung. His familiarity with the Vietnam market, on top of his knowledge and media planning capabilities, will see him lead an empowering team to serve clients more efficiently.

Diep was previously an associate director at Mindshare, where she has worked alongside Unilever, where she oversees the strategic planning, content, and commerce portfolio for 14 brands across fabric detergent, skin cleaning, and skincare categories. In her new role, she will be responsible for optimising planning strategy powered by the agency’s data platform, OMNI, and driving innovative marketing solutions for clients.

Lastly, San Nguyen has nine years of experience and has seen her working with prominent brands, including L’Oreal, Coca Cola, and Kimberly Clark.

All four new appointees will report directly to Julien Courant, chief operating officer at Omnicom Media Group Vietnam.

Speaking on the new appointments, Courant said, “The pandemic has accelerated the speed of change for the media industry and disrupted the industry on all fronts, especially retaining top talents in Vietnam. Despite the challenges, we remain steadfast in this endemic period, as we believe the key to this success is our commitment to investing in our people and capabilities. With the new core leadership team in place, we are positioned to drive new levels of business growth and help our clients’ transformative journey in this ever-changing digital landscape.”

Meanwhile, Tony Harradine, CEO of Omnicom Media Group APAC, shared, “As one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is constantly evolving in step with its digital and e-commerce growth. With the combined capabilities of the new core leadership team, we are committed to providing clients with the best-in-market expertise and partnering with them to grow their business in this dynamic business landscape.”

Vietnam – United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Vietnam has elevated Victor Ngo, former head of group compliance at UOB Vietnam, to be its new chief executive officer (CEO). The appointment of Ngo succeeds Harry Loh, who relinquished his position to return to Singapore to lead the Group Non-Financial Risk Management.

In his new role, Ngo will be leading efforts to deepen UOB Vietnam’s digital capabilities, expand its financing offerings, and connect clients to market opportunities in Vietnam and across UOB Group’s regional network.

Ngo is a banking veteran with more than 30 years of experience. He joined UOB in 2004, where he led leadership roles. Since 2015, Ngo has been active in engaging businesses and industry partners in Vietnam. He was instrumental in helping the bank to become the first Singapore bank to establish a foreign-owned subsidiary in Vietnam in 2017.

Wee Ee Cheong, UOB’s deputy chairman and CEO, commented, “Victor has deep market knowledge and a strong affinity with Vietnam. With his extensive experience in the banking industry and within UOB Group, he is well placed to drive our Vietnam franchise to new heights.”

Hanoi, Vietnam – Vietnam’s telecommunications network operator, Viettel Telecom, has partnered with international insurtech, bolttech, to launch an insurance offering, which will be powered by bolttech’s insurance exchange platform, on its customer app MyViettel, with products including health, travel, and home, as well as car, and motorbike.

The partnership will see bolttech cooperating 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. In a seamless experience within the MyViettel app, customers can now access the new insurance offering via the home page of the app and view options in a few clicks.

Chien Ta, bolttech Vietnam’s CEO, believes that their partnership with Viettel Telecom, a leading telecommunications provider in Vietnam, is an important milestone for bolttech. 

“By embedding an insurance platform into the Viettel customer experience, we can reach more customers in Vietnam with a choice of insurance to meet their needs and the convenience to access these products in a simple, easy way,” said Ta.

bolttech said that this partnership is another step in its partner-led expansion strategy for the market.

Geneva, Switzerland – Saigon-Hanoi Bank in Vietnam has tapped cloud banking platform Temenos to accelerate the bank’s digital transformation. For SHB, the move to Temenos digital banking platform is a crucial step toward its goal to rank first in efficiency and technology among Vietnam’s commercial banks by 2025.

Through the partnership, adopting the digital banking capabilities on top of Temenos open platform for composable banking will enable SHB to reimagine how it engages with customers and deliver a consistent, seamless experience across multiple channels. 

Additionally, SHB will leverage Temenos’ open architecture – with its combination of APIs, microservices and Micro Apps – to create a true omnichannel experience across all channels, including internet, mobile, branches and ATMs.

Do Quang Vinh, deputy general director and director at SHB Digital Banking Division, said, “SHB aims to become a leading digital bank in Vietnam in the next five years. We are confident that choosing Temenos, the world leader in banking software, will enable us to complete the transformation project in the fastest and most effective way. With a modernised and secure system, we will be able to engage existing customers better and attract new customers through a digital banking experience that meets their current and future financial service needs.”

Meanwhile, David Becker, managing director for APAC at Temenos, commented, “SHB is a visionary bank with a clear digital transformation roadmap, and we are proud to support and partner with the bank on this journey. Temenos has nearly 30 years of experience in implementing core and front-office solutions for over 20 clients in Vietnam. This deep expertise together with the powerful capabilities of our open platform will help SHB accelerate the digital transformation initiatives that will differentiate its service and realize its growth ambitions.”

Vietnam – Virtuos, a global game development company, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Glass Egg Digital Media (“Glass Egg”), a 2D and 3D art production studio with 400 employees based in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. Following the acquisition, Glass Egg will rebrand itself as “Glass Egg – a Virtuos Studio”. The studio will continue to operate independently, with Phil Tran and Steve Reid staying on to helm the studio as CEO and CFO, respectively.

Together with Glass Egg, Virtuos which already owns HCMC-based Sparx* will employ close to 1,000 game specialists in Vietnam, where another studio will be opened in June 2022. This supports Virtuos’ goal of growing to 1,500 employees locally, and becoming the largest game development company in Vietnam.

Gilles Langourieux, CEO at Virtuos, said, “We’re excited to bring the Glass Egg team on board the Virtuos family. With its strong brand equity, coupled with its sizeable and long-term local operations, Glass Egg demonstrates excellent synergies with Virtuos, and we look forward to harnessing our combined expertise to strengthen our commitment to excellence.”

Virtuos’ acquisition of Glass Egg is set to bolster the company’s offerings in art production and game development. Leveraging Vietnam’s position as a Southeast Asian game development hub, the new studio will not only bring the company closer to its Asian clients, but also give Virtuos access to a deep pool of creative talent.

Phil Tran, CEO at Glass Egg – a Virtuos Studio, shared, “We are honored to be a part of an industry stalwart, Virtuos. This means our staff will have the ability to expand skills and take on a wider array of projects, which will benefit our clients as well. With the support and resources of Virtuos, we are energized to meaningfully contribute to the industry in its next phase of growth.”

Virtuos was advised by Lincoln International, while Sperry, Mitchell & Company assisted in negotiations and served as the exclusive financial advisor to Glass Egg.

Meanwhile, Steve Reid, CFO at Glass Egg – a Virtuos Studio, commented, “Operational integration is our top priority post-acquisition. By using the same project management, communication tools and platforms, we can better facilitate interoperability with other Virtuos studios globally, and ensure we have more production options to offer to our clients than competitors.”

In addition, Glass Egg, a Virtuos Studio, joins the likes of Volmi Games, CounterPunch Studios, Black Shamrock, and Sparx* in Virtuos’ long history of studio acquisitions and integrations over the past decade. In 2021, Baring Private Equity Asia invested $150 million in Virtuos, and the company launched a studio in Lyon, France, to further expand its global network of studios.

Hanoi, Vietnam — The Vietnam Blockchain Association held its inaugural ceremony on May 17th, 2021, becoming the first organization with a legal entity that will represent blockchain researchers, business owners and consultants in the whole country.

The inauguration marked the official start of the association and the principles and the directions for future activities. The event’s focus was on the series of Action Programs that promote blockchain technology’s application in a digital economy and leverage Vietnam’s position on the global technology map. The programs aim to bolster the research and application of blockchain technology solutions to every economic aspect

The association’s missions are; to establish and develop a sustainable relationship with global Blockchain organizations and community; to share insights and resources for in-depth research, experiment, and application of Blockchain, to develop products and services and conducting business in compliance with Vietnamese law, and to attract investment to blockchain industry activities, and develop high – quality human resource in digital technology.

Vietnam has witnessed the rapid introduction and development of Blockchain technology. As the number of enterprises, researchers, and engineers pursuing the technology increases, the need for collaboration, sharing, and support with the government agencies also needs to be increased. Therefore, an official organisation with a complete legal entity to adapt to the Vietnamese Blockchain community’s expansion speed and strong development goals is vital.

At the ceremony, Tran Van Tung, deputy minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said, “Hopefully the Association will utilize its resources for technology and science projects in blockchain so Vietnam can create outstanding products, become an active player in the global blockchain market, and nurture the industry talents for the future.”

Meanwhile, Hoang Van Huay, chairman of the Vietnam Blockchain Association, shared their vision, commenting, “Vietnam Blockchain Association is committed to raising the community awareness and providing consultation on building legal framework, regulations, and standards in developing services and products on Blockchain. We hope to see many enterprises and individuals joining us to grow the Association into a strong organization to accelerate the growth of blockchain technology in Vietnam.”

Vietnam – Huggies, the diaper brand of baby and child care company Kimberly-Clark, has partnered with INCA, GroupM’s brand-safe influencer and content marketing arm, to launch a new campaign for its latest diaper product in Vietnam – Huggies Thin & Soft. This campaign aims to get Vietnamese moms to talk about diaper ‘quality’, ‘absorbency’ and ‘thinness’, which are unique attributes not typically associated with children’s diapers.

INCA noted that urban Vietnamese mothers place a high value on imported goods, and are excited by innovations hailing from Japan and Korea. This is also where Huggies turned their focus towards mom communities, whose small but powerful word-of-mouth influence could collectively spark powerful conversations.

Through the new campaign, INCA and Huggies have selected two hundred nano and micro-influencers who had a dominant share of voice and strong influence on more than 20 mom communities to incite conversations endorsing the value of thin and soft attributed diapers, before reviewing ‘the thinnest best-selling diaper brands from Korea’. 

The campaign was hinged on the fact that mothers turned to other mothers within their communities for advice and product recommendations. These influencers would then privately share Huggies sale links with other mothers in the communities.

Uyen Nguyen, Huggies’ senior brand manager for Vietnam, commented partnering with INCA was crucial in helping them build relationships with mothers in Vietnam through word-of-mouth, one of the most reliable and trusted channels mothers rely on.

“The campaign demonstrated the immense potential for soft & thin diapers, something unheard of in the Vietnamese market. This campaign exceeded all expectations, and we look forward to partnering with INCA again in the future,” said Nguyen.

Meanwhile, Loan Menuge, INCA’s lead for Vietnam, shared that through their brand-safe technology, they were able to align with Huggies’ campaign goals and forge deep connections with creators and consumers to drive business outcomes for the clients. 

“We are pleased that Huggies is now the top diaper brand known in Vietnam for its thinness, quality, absorbency as well as other interesting attributes and that we are able to bring comfort and innovation for mothers and their children,” said Menuge.

Hanoi, Vietnam — International Finance Corporation (IFC) has collaborated with Vietnamese private retail bank, Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank), to help Vietnamese small and medium businesses access innovative funding enabling them to better take part in global supply chains, expand into new markets, and help drive Vietnam’s economy.

The move follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between IFC and HDBank with the aim of boosting supply chain financing (SCF) for the country’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The collaboration is expected to help HDBank build an SCF portfolio of $1b by 2025.

The lack of working capital has been a key constraint for local businesses in Vietnam, especially SMEs which account for about 98 per cent of all businesses. Innovative funding such as SCF is relatively new in Vietnam and still to reach most SMEs. Additionally, the main sources of SME finance continue to be loans backed by mortgages. As a result, the share of receivables and inventory registered as movable collateral in Vietnam is just about 30 percent, significantly lower than those in the more developed markets.

Thanh Pham, chief executive officer of HDBank, said, “SCF that links buyers, suppliers, and financial institutions will efficiently support the trade cycles. IFC’s timely support will enable local businesses to leverage emerging trade opportunities and improve their linkages to formal supply chains, contributing to Vietnam’s economic growth.”

Pham added, “It will further help HDBank realize its vision to be among the top banks in the country with a core focus on SME and retail banking, while emphasizing value chain financing and growing its anchor client base. Also, agriculture chain is an important target industry for us, especially high-tech and green agriculture.”

IFC will help HDBank grow its SCF portfolio; specifically assisting HDBank to design an SCF strategy for the agri sector, broaden its SCF products—especially supplier and distributor financing—and bring on board anchor firms along with their suppliers and distributors, among others.

Meanwhile, Stephanie von Friedeburg, senior VP of Operations for IFC, commented, “SMEs are the backbone of Vietnam’s economy and are essential to the country’s ambition to become a regional manufacturing hub. Our support to local financial institutions like HDBank will help SMEs in Vietnam link into global supply chains and access opportunities to grow and create jobs.”

IFC’s technical support to HDBank is part of a multi-year program to be implemented in partnership with the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs to provide in-depth advisory services to regulators, local banks and non-bank institutions to develop SCF business in Vietnam, contributing to greater market integration and supporting the SME sector’s growth in the country.

Earlier in April, IFC also provided HDBank with a $40m trade finance line under its Global Trade Finance Program, which will improve the lender’s capacity to cover payment risk in granting trade financing to local companies, mostly SMEs. HDBank is the newest Vietnamese bank to join the program since its launch in Vietnam in 2007.

Vietnam – The Southeast Asian nation of Vietnam is one of the fastest growing markets in the region to adopt fintech. It is expected that the fintech market in the country will reach a value of US$18b by 2024, according to a report from financial group Robocash Group.

According to the insights, since 2016, the total number of fintech companies has grown to 97, making an 84.5% increase. However, the number of newly launched start-ups per each year decreased from 11 to 2. The market features a high competitiveness and a high entry bar.

Furthermore, transaction volume demonstrated a 152.8% growth since 2016, with 29.5 million of new FinTech users. As a result, every second Vietnamese uses at least one FinTech service. The demand for digital services such as transactions, payments and wallets among the Vietnamese population has seen an upward trend as well.

“In the near future, the government is going to become more involved in FinTech, evidenced by the increasing number of favourable legislation for financial technologies. The fintech regulatory sandbox and the legal framework for digital assets and cryptocurrencies also assume further development of the industry,” the company said in a statement.