Despite having no small cash in his pocket, Hoang Duong can still pay for his cup of tea to a vendor in Quan Thanh street, Hanoi, by scanning a QR code from his smartphone even though the cost is only 3,000 VND (0.13 USD).
Vietnam has one of the newest and most dynamic start-up scenes in Asia, and it has emerged as a hub for start-ups, according to the recently released Emerging Giants in Asia Pacific report.
Mobile Service JSC (M-Service) – the biggest e-wallet firm in Vietnam said it had raised 200 million USD from global investors for its MoMo e-wallet service during the Series E (5th) financing round.
With a few clicks on an e-wallet platform installed on her mobile phone, Do Nhu Hoa, a 38-year-old office worker in Hanoi, can easily pay for her electricity and water bills.
Despite being a new player in Indonesia’s digital payment field, ShopeePay, the e-wallet arm of online marketplace Shopee, has become a market leader amid the e-commerce boom during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the last half of 2020 saw Vietnamese people download and use more phone applications than in 2019, according to the Mobile Application 2021 report from Appota Group.
Start-ups globally have been in a critical condition recently, as COVID-19 has forced many private equity firms to cut their investment. Many Vietnamese start-ups have, however, shown their resilience by successfully attracting foreign investors.
The Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing Zone and Industrial Park Authority Business Association (HBA) on January 22 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with E-wallet SmartPay and Era Group to develop welfare supermarkets for workers at the city export processing zones and industrial parks.
MoMo, Vietnam’s biggest e-wallet firm, has finished its Series D financing round from leading global investors, announced the firm in Hanoi on January 13.
As many as 40,000 mom-and-pop stores nationwide have been digitalised thanks to the VinShop mobile app developed by Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate Vingroup.
A ceremony has been held in Vientiane to mark two years of operation of U-Money e-wallet provided by Unitel, a joint venture between Viettel of Vietnam and a Lao company.
Singapore is opening up access to the payment rails for non-bank e-wallet players that meet the necessary risk-management standards, according to managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Ravi Menon.
The Thai Prime Minister has voiced his satisfaction with the success of the government’s “Half-Price” co-pay campaign that has helped the general public cut down on living expenses while stimulating local economies.
Currently, the OCB OMNI system deals with about 50,000 transactions a day, including money transfer, receipt payment, and mobile service payment, three times higher than the figure recorded at late 2019.