Tiki Global no longer affiliate of Vietnam unicorn VNG

By Hai Yen
Sat, February 8, 2025 | 3:51 pm GMT+7

VNG Corporation, Vietnam’s first tech unicorn, has ended its affiliate relationship with Tiki Global after entirely suffering losses from its VND510 billion ($20 million) investment in the Singapore-based company, which owns more than a 90% stake in e-commerce giant Tiki

VNG (UpCoM: VNZ) recalled its two representatives from Tiki Global’s board last October, ending the latter’s status as an affiliate.

The tech firm still holds a 14.61% stake in Tiki Global as a long-term investment but has entirely incurred losses from this deal since 2019.

 A deliver man holds a Tiki parcel. Photo courtesy of Tiki.

A deliver man holds a Tiki parcel. Photo courtesy of Tiki.

Founded in 2010, Tiki started as an online bookstore before expanding into e-commerce. Six years later, the company was valued at $45 million, following VNG’s $17 million investment for a 38% stake, which was then the largest shareholder in Tiki.

However, as of June 30, 2019, VNG’s stake in Tiki had declined after Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com made a series of undisclosed investments to raise its ownership to 25.65%.

Tiki has struggled to keep its share in Vietnam’s highly competitive e-commerce market.

Before 2016, Tiki’s main rival was Lazada. However, Shopee's entry significantly reshaped Vietnam’s e-commerce landscape. With an aggressive cash-burning strategy, Shopee overtook Lazada to dominate the local market, capturing a 35% share in 2018, while Lazada’s share dropped to 20% and Tiki’s to 17%.

Since then, the gap between Tiki and Shopee has widened, weakening Tiki’s position in the Vietnamese market.

A report seen last August from YouNet ECI, an e-commerce channel development consulting and analysis company, shows that the Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) on the four largest platforms, Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada and Tiki, reached VND87.37 trillion ($3.45 billion) in the second quarter of 2024, up 10.4% from the previous quarter.

In particular, Shopee continued to maintain its leading position with a huge revenue of VND62.38 trillion, accounting for 71.4% of the GMV market share. TikTok Shop ranked second with VND19.24 trillion, or 22%.

Lazada and Tiki witnessed a decline, with only 5.9% and 0.7% market shares, respectively. This development shows that the online retail market is now a 'two-horse race' between Shopee and TikTok Shop.

Vietnam’s retail e-commerce market was estimated to top $25 billion in 2024, up 20% year-on-year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade reported.

Top e-commerce sites in Vietnam, namely Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada, Tiki, and Sendo, earned a total revenue of VND318.9 trillion ($12.62 billion) in 2024, up 37.4% year-on-year, according to local e-commerce analyzer Metric.

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