KVision
announces Beacon’s investment
in Vui App – Vietnam’s number-one salary
advance platform
KASIKORNBANK
FINANCIAL CONGLOMERATE has geared up for scouting innovative services to serve
customers across the AEC+3 region. To
this end, KASIKORN Vision Co., Ltd. (KVision) has
announced its advisory role in the investment of Beacon Venture Capital Co.,
Ltd. (Beacon) – a KBank subsidiary – in
Vui App, Vietnam’s most-often used earned wage access (EWC) platform. The
company aims to expand its reach to retail customers, especially blue-collar
workers, a sector that was extremely affected by the pandemic, which triggered
a major change in the needs of such workers; in this case, Vui App provides an
alternative solution with the purpose of serving low and
middle-income workers in Vietnam through the provision of
loan and insurance products in the Vietnamese market.
Mr. Pattarapong
Kanhasuwan, KBank Executive Vice President and KVision Chairman, noted, “Vietnam
has a population of almost 100 million. According
to a World Bank projection, Vietnam will see GDP growth of 7 percent annually
during the next five years. Its household debt to GDP has
risen every year, but the figure remains relatively lower than that of Thailand. This
demonstrates that loan demand of low- and middle-income
labor in Vietnam has risen steadily, and is poised to grow even further. Meanwhile,
Vietnam has the highest growth of middle-class
population in ASEAN.
Over the past 10 years (2009-2019),
its labor market has expanded 1.36 percent per year on average. Blue-collar
workers, amounting to 80 percent of Vietnam’s
total workforce, are an important customer base of the earned wage access (EWA) service
business, which has grown 1.94 percent p.a. on
average in recent years.
Additionally, the EWA model is being
investigated by local employers to make EWA services as part of their welfare
program for workers and the promising solution to labor shortage. This
will be an important factor supporting the EWA service business in Vietnam,
going forward.
KVision, with a mission to explore businesses having innovation potential that meet the needs of KBank’s customers in the AEC+3 region, has advised Beacon to jointly invest in Vui App, the leading EWA platform in Vietnam as its users are mainly blue-collar workers who have difficulty accessing financial products –particularly loans – before scheduled payday. The EWA solution from Vui App will allow workers of the company which has entered into a service agreement to link with the Vui App to access their earned wage with no need to submit additional documents or details of their qualifications. The Vui App, therefore, can meet the needs of users, including workers who need cash and companies which can provide welfare benefits for their employees more conveniently. For the current joint investment in Vui App, KVision has advised that investment be made via Beacon Venture Capital Co., Ltd., the venture capital arm of KBank.
Mr. Dzung Dang,
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vui App, noted, “Presently, Vui App’s main business
is earned wage access (EWA) services giving employees access to
their earned pay at any point of the month.
KBank
and KVision have referred
Beacon Venture Capital Co., Ltd., the venture capital arm of KBank, to jointly invest in Vui
App. For
this pre-series
A funding
round, the lead investor will be Openspace Ventures (Singapore’s leading venture capital
investor). Other
venture capital firms
and investors include Golden Gate Ventures (regional
fund in SEA), FEBE Ventures (early-stage venture capital
investor), Good Water Capital (global venture capital), and Ventura Capital (American venture capital).
About KVision
KBank established
KASIKORN VISION COMPANY LIMITED (KVision) as an investment holding company. KVision has a seed
capital of 1 billion USD, or approximately 34 billion Baht (registered capital of 12
billion Baht),
with an investment scope that spans the globe. KVision is initially
focused on building a strong foundation in four target countries, including
China, where there is a large pool of fintech companies; Indonesia and Vietnam,
where tech startups have been among the fastest-growing sectors in ASEAN;
and Israel, an incubator of tech talents where new technologies originate. KVision invests in
startups with potential through the formats of direct investment and investment
through Beacon Venture Capital Fund, which was established in 2017.
About Vui App
Vui App was founded
in 2020 and is currently the leader in the earned wage access (EWA) business in Vietnam. Vui App provides EWA
services in the format of B2B for employees via mobile application, including
payroll analytics, dashboard and B2C as
value-added services such as top-up, cash advance and high-yield savings account.
