 has officially launched in Vietnam, marking its fifth market expansion. ){kind=link}
Funding Societies (also known as Modalku in Indonesia) has officially launched in Vietnam, marking its fifth market expansion.
The SME Digital Lender has also appointed local FinTech veteran, Ryan Galloway to lead operations in Vietnam.
Kelvin Teo, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies, said, “Since our inception in 2015, our vision is to uplift societies in Southeast Asia. Hence, Vietnam has always been part of our roadmap. This is an opportune time as we ride out of COVID-19, build a solid team with local FinTech veteran Ryan Galloway, and secure investment from tech giant VNG. We believe that Vietnam will be one of our largest markets given its enormous potential.”
Ryan Galloway, Country Director of Funding Societies Vietnam, said, “Vietnam SMEs don’t have the same access to venture and early-stage capital markets as other Southeast Asian markets, but the Vietnam market is equally as competitive, so Vietnamese entrepreneurs are trained to do more with less. We see lots of opportunity in Vietnam and we’re excited to support the country’s burgeoning SME landscape as we continue to serve the needs of millions of SMEs across Southeast Asia.”
Commenting on this, Wong Kah Meng, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Funding Societies Malaysia, said, “We are excited by this expansion because it reflects our on-going commitment towards enabling access to digital financial services to SMEs in Malaysia and across the broader Southeast Asia. Through our regional footprint, we would be better placed to support the growth of Malaysian and Southeast Asian SMEs as they expand their business across the region.”
According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment, 98% of operating businesses in the country in 2020 are SMEs, employing more than 5.6 million workers and accounting for more than US$241 billion (RM1.045 trillion) or 40% of Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP).
However, the gap between the number of registered SMEs and the number of businesses in operation has been widening over the years, with only 54% of registered SMEs appearing to be active in 2019. Access to funding remains one of the greatest obstacles to the growth of Vietnamese SMEs, and this has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SME digital lender serves as a trustworthy platform for SME financing with an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-led credit model, offering traditional term loans, customisable financing solutions, and a range of trade-based financing options, such as invoice financing.
In its seven years of operation, the company has disbursed over US$2 billion (RM8.67 billion) in business financing through more than 5 million loans across the region.