Openspace, VI Group lead $25m round for Vietnam's Finhay
Openspace Ventures and VI Group have led a USD 25m Series B round for Vietnamese digital investment platform Finhay.
Singapore-based Openspace is investing via its third flagship VC fund, which closed on USD 200m in March 2021 and leverages a team in Ho Chi Minh City. VI Group, also known as Vietnam Investments Group, closed its third fund at $252 million in 2015 with a sector and stage-agnostic mandate.
Insignia Venture Partners, TVS Capital, Headline, TNBAura, and Thien Viet Securities also participated among others. Insignia led a round of undisclosed size in early 2019 with support from Rhombuz VC and Zeroth AI. The first institutional backer was Australia’s H2 Ventures in 2018.
Finhay was founded in 2017 with the purpose of providing Vietnamese consumers with easy and convenient digital access to financial services. As of 2021, Vietnam had only 4m securities-trading accounts against a population of around 98m.
The company has more than 2.7m registered users, which it claims makes it Vietnam’s leading digital investment platform. The user base expanded by 150% during 2021 with the release of four new products: cash-wrapped accounts with regional bank CIMB, gold trading services, a 12-month saving function, and a stock trading tool.
The team has doubled in size in the past year, with 50 new employees joining the business. There have also been partnerships with about 50 local financial institutions, including domestic and international banks, investment funds and fintech businesses.
“Finhay is already emerging as the clear frontrunner in Vietnam’s booming investment space,” Jessica Huang Pouleur, a partner at Openspace, said in a statement. “Finhay’s recent developments have paved the way for continued growth as a broader wealth creation platform.”
The Series B coincides with the acquisition of a securities brokerage, making it the only licensed digital investment platform in Vietnam. The new capital will be used to invest in strategic business expansion, talent acquisition, and technology development.
“A decade ago, we invested successfully in a traditional brokerage that expanded online and today, we are excited to invest in a digital native investment platform that has acquired a traditional brokerage,” Viet Nguyen, a director at VI Group, added.
“We have worked closely with Finhay’s local investors in a number of deals and look forward to collaborating with its international investors and management to accelerate its industry leadership.”
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