Why we invest: Fundiin - Relieving financial burdens for consumers
20/10/2022 According to Statista, Vietnam's retail sector, which is expanding at a 10% CAGR, is predicted to reach $336 billion in 2026. Since only 30% of the population has bank accounts and only 4.7% uses credit cards (much lower than 13% credit card adoption rate in SEA), the financial ability of most Vietnamese has not been able to keep up with the retail market's rapid growth.
Furthermore, young consumers are demanding convenient buying methods, helping them to purchase faster and less expensive. Meanwhile, sellers, in the context of increasingly fierce competition in retail and e-commerce, are also looking for new solutions to attract customers.
In order to solve this market demand, Fundiin was founded to provide convenient and smart payment solution. In October 2022, ThinkZone Ventures decided to invest in Fundiin, together supporting consumers to relieve their financial burdens.
An introduction to Fundiin product
Fundiin introduces a platform that provides an installment payment method - Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) - to its customers. This method reduces the financial burdens for consumers, especially people who have not yet approached alternative payment methods such as credit cards.
This platform helps consumers to purchase products/ services immediately while breaking down the payment into three installments. One-third of the order value is paid at the time of purchase, and the remaining amounts are paid over the next two months. As long as they pay on time, customers are exempt from interest. The steps are very simple and take only a few seconds. Customers can make any purchase with just their phone number and ID card; they don't even need to download an app.
“Support customers in achieving financial freedom and BNPL are just the first steps. Fundiin will thereafter release other financial service apps to fully meet Vietnamese people's demand. At this time, Fundiin aims to expand the business to neighboring countries like Indonesia, the Philippines in the next Series B funding round.” Co-founder and CEO Mr. Cuong Nguyen said.
ThinkZone Ventures is highly interested in the growth capacity of this platform
Buy Now Pay Later, BNPL, has always been a huge market with a scale up to $5.01B in 2021, forecasting to reach $40.1B in 2030, according to Grand Vie Research. BNPL has proven its triumph with the establishment of several unicorn startups such as Afterpay, Klarna, Clearpay, etc. This model has emerged to become a business trend in Vietnam since 2020, drawing the attention of foreign startups like Reepay, Atome, Kaypay, etc.
Regarding the demands from the Vietnamese market, with only 30% of the population having bank accounts and 4.7% using credit cards, it opens a huge opportunity for Fundiin to be the first to provide Buy Now Pay Later service to the unserved market.
Having brought the BNPL model to Vietnam in 2019, Fundiin has proven its business and growth capabilities, expressed in three fundamental factors. These are also the three reasons persuading ThinkZone Ventures to invest in Fundiin, despite the current worldwide skepticism on BNPL.
The ability to acquire customers
With the philosophy of creating a product that is highly focused on customer experiences to be simple, convenient, and even not mandatory in downloading the app, Fundiin has been rocketing in number of users and rate of successful purchases.
The ability to attract sellers
Fundiin is currently leading the market in the number of partners who are brands, wholesalers, and sellers both online and offline. Not only does this help expand the customer segment for big sellers, but it also builds trust and encourages other merchants to be on board. Fundiin has partnered with more than 300 merchants, having more than 4,000 stores in urban areas. Since the recent cooperation with big names like The Gioi Di Dong, Dien may Xanh, Unilever, Galaxy, Vuanem, and so on, the total number of user of this platform has increased 5x, with the GMV being as 7x equal to the rate recalled from the fundraise one year ago.
The ability to control bad debt
With the BNPL model, Fundiin has to pay for the merchants, then receive the installment payments from the customers in the next two months. Therefore, controlling bad debt is the key puzzle for BNPL businesses to guarantee long-term profits. With the application of AI, machine learning, and in-house algorithms to evaluate risks, Fundiin has managed to keep a low rate of bad debt, while having a positive Net Transaction Margin.
Furthermore, ThinkZone Ventures has high expectations of the capabilities of Fundiin’s founding members. Mr. Cuong Nguyen, Co-founder of & CEO of Fundiin, expertises in startup investment and credit management from his background working in Vietnam Holding Asset Management and former startup, Lendiz - a platform providing loans to buy motorbikes. Mr. Vo Hoang Nam, Co-founder & CTO, has experience in developing products with millions of users for big corporations such as MoMo, VNG Corporation, and TPBank. Therefore, Fundiin has its basis of immense growth in the future.
Accompanying Fundiin on the journey of relieving financial burden for customers, ThinkZone Ventures promises in supporting large resources and investments in order to ensure Fundiin’s future growth.
