Masan invests $65 mln in Vietnam fintech startup

Masan Group, one of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerates, has invested $65 million in fintech firm Trusting Social in a fresh move to speed up its e-commerce business.

The deal is for a 25% stake in the Vietnam-based startup, a unit of Singapore-based Trust IQ Co., Masan announced at its annual general meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday.

Trusting Social claims it uses artificial intelligence to provide credit scores of more than 1 billion people to financial institutions in Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. It has been backed by such investment funds as Sequoia Capital, BeeNext, Tanglin Ventures Partners, 500 Startups, Kima Ventures, and Genesis Alternative Ventures.

Masan said it would capitalize on Trusting Social’s fintech platform to integrate its offline and online businesses.

Masan, where Chinese giant Alibaba Group, American investors KKR and TPG, and Korean chaebol SK Group are business partners with strong financing, is carrying out its “Point of Life” strategy.

Masan, with Chinese giant Alibaba Group, American investors KKR and TPG, and Korean chaebol SK Group being its business partners, is carrying out its “Point of Life” strategy.

The major develops its concept of minimarts providing banking services, essential products, food, coffee, tea and other beverages under one roof. Banking services, including new debit cards and credit cards, are provided by Techcombank, of which Masan owns around a 20% stake.

In February this year, Masan spent an additional $110 million to make the Phuc Long beverage chain a consolidated subsidiary under its roof. The deal increased its ownership in the established coffee and tea chain to 51%, after buying a 20% stake in Phuc Long in May last year for $15 million.

Also last May, a consortium led by Alibaba Group invested $400 million in Masan’s consumer-retail platform The CrownX. One month prior, South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group spent $410 million buying a 16.3% stake in retailer VinCommerce from Masan.

VinCommerce used to belong to Vietnam’s biggest listed conglomerate Vingroup but was sold to Masan in 2019. Later, Masan set up The CrownX by merging VinCommerce and Masan Consumer Holdings.

At present, Masan still plans for an initial public offering for The CrownX in 2023-2024, the group’s CEO Danny Le said at Thursday’s shareholder meeting. He added the IPO could be hosted on the New York Stock Exchange or in Singapore, Hong Kong, or Vietnam.