Funding Societies sees Vietnam as major market

Singapore-based Funding Societies, financially backed by Vietnamese tech giant VNG Corp., has made its debut in Vietnam, which the digital finance platform describes as a significant market.

“We believe that Vietnam will be one of our largest markets given its enormous potential,” Kelvin Teo, co-founder and CEO of Funding Societies said in a release to officially launch the firm’s Vietnam office.

“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,” he added.

Ryan Galloway, Country Director of Funding Societies Vietnam, said: “Vietnamese small and medium enterprises don’t have the same access to venture and early-stage capital markets as other Southeast Asian markets. But this 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.”

The Vietnam office is in District 1 in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, the nation’s southern economic hub. Vietnam is the fifth Asian market of Funding Societies, which provides smaller firms with access to capital with a credit marketplace.

The fintech firm said since its soft launch in Vietnam in December 2021, it has achieved over $20 million in disbursements, and eyes a total $90 million this year.

In February this year, VNG Corp. – Vietnam’s first-ever unicorn startup – invested $22.5 million in Funding Societies as part of the Singaporean firm’s $294 million series C+ round.

VNG, whose ecosystem includes products of great popularity like Zalo, ZaloPay, and Zing MP3, is expected to help Funding Societies to adapt to the Vietnamese market by providing solutions tailored to Vietnamese enterprise needs.

Funding Societies said it has since 2015 disbursed over $2 billion in business financing to micro, small and medium enterprises through more than 4.9 million loan transactions in Southeast Asia.

The company has been present in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.