Vietnam-based fintech startup F88 has secured around $6 million in a fresh funding round, led by Mekong Enterprise Fund III and Granite Oak, the media reported.
The funding raised by F88 will be used to help the startup expand its network and branches and at the same time accelerate growth, according to its chief executive officer Phung Anh Tuan.
F88 is focused on providing fast and easy vehicle title loans. The startup also provides other financial services, such as distributing life and non-life insurance, bills payment, mobile money, and ewallet top-ups.
F88 also initiated the commercialisation of pawn services in Vietnam. It currently provides loans on diverse assets such as cars, motorcycles, mobile phones, laptops, and jewelry.
It currently has around 180 pawn outlets in the country.
With regard to the funding in F88, Simon Wagner, managing partner at Granite Oak told the media, “Since our initial investment in 2018, F88’s performance has consistently surpassed our expectations with respect to growth, loan portfolio quality, and profitability. Investing in this (latest) growth equity round was, therefore, an obvious choice for us.”
Established in 2013, the startup was valued at $90.7 million as of 2019.
Online payments in Vietnam has grown by 76 percent between January 25 and mid-March in 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed the world to a state of lockdown, according to statistics from the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS).
The total transaction value has substantially increased by 124 percent during the same period.
To help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, many banks and telecom companies in Vietnam are integrating estores, grocery chains to their payment platforms to help Vietnamese people shop online and stay at home.