Dat Bike to tap more offshore capital sources with HSBC support

HSBC Bank Vietnam signed a strategic agreement with Dat Bike on Wednesday to help the domestic electric motorcycle maker gain better access to financial markets and digitalize its financial operations.

At this initial stage, the bank will help Dat Bike to boost its automation capacity by upgrading its accounting system to create and approve bulk transactions with only one click, saving processing time.

To help the Ho Chi Minh City-based startup to access more fundraising opportunities, HSBC will provide Dat Bike with a platform to centrally manage its treasury, paving the way for it to expand to other Southeast Asian markets, starting from Singapore.

“Dat Bike is a great example of a new-economy company with their innovative, entrepreneurial mindset and sustainability strategy to bring green vehicles to Vietnam. They are also an inspiration for other Vietnamese companies to move forward in sustainability and innovation,” said Ahmed Yeganeh, head of wholesale banking, HSBC Vietnam.

“HSBC shares the same vision in growing and supporting Vietnam to develop sustainably,” he said.

In Vietnam, HSBC is fueling high-potential new-economy companies, and businesses that make fundamental shifts in the way they produce and distribute goods and services, according to him.

HSBC Vietnam said that in the future, it would also help Dat Bike’s customers to access advanced EV products more easily and affordably, with details to follow.

This month, HSBC Global launched its innovation banking initiative, which includes the former Silicon Valley Bank UK with newly formed innovation teams in the UK, the U.S., Israel and Hong Kong, aiming at delivering a globally connected, specialized banking proposition to support a broad range of innovative businesses and their investors. The new business concept will include Vietnam in the later stages.

Gojek and Dat Bike announced a partnership in mid-May to deploy the latter’s electric motorbikes for transportation, logistics, and food deliveries in Vietnam. The cooperation made Gojek the first company in Vietnam to pilot Dat Bike’s electric vehicles.

Dat Bike raised $8 million last November led by Jungle Ventures with the participation of GSR Ventures, Delivery Hero Ventures, Wavemaker Partners and Innoven Capital. This funding raised Dat Bike’s total capital to $16.5 million since its establishment in 2019.