Ride-hailing firm scores $60 mln Deutsche Bank expansion loan

Deutsche Bank AG has provided Vietnam’s Be Group, a Grab and Gojek rival, with a loan facility of at least $60 million to expand its ride-hailing, food delivery, and digital banking services.

The transaction has a provision to extend financing to $100 million, Be Group said Monday, adding its CEO Vu Hoang Yen signed the loan facility with Abhay-Kumar Sinha, a Deutsche Bank corporate financing executive.

The funds will be used to fortify and expand its primary services namely ride-hailing, food delivery, and “Cake by VPBank” digital banking, as well as to access new services and markets, Be said.

Cake by VPBank is jointly developed by the startup and Vietnamese lender VPBank, which signed a strategic cooperation deal with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) this May 2022 to fuel the Japanese giant’s expansion efforts in the Vietnamese market.

VPBank is a leading Vietnamese consumer loan provider thanks to VPBank SMBC Finance Co., formerly known as FE Credit, in which SMBC bought a 49% stake for $1.4 billion last year.

Be and VPBank are set to soon launch an immediately-approved consumer loan app, the Be CEO mentioned.

Be Group was launched in 2018. The startup says it currently operates in 28 provinces and cities in Vietnam, with its app already installed on more than 20 million mobile devices. It aims to become a leading multi-service consumer platform in the country.