Vietnamese startup raises seed funding to make buying financial products a breeze

BankGo co-founder and CEO Vu Viet Hung. Photo credit: BankGo.

Vietnamese financial comparison website BankGo announced today it has raised a seed round of funding. The amount is undisclosed and so is the sole investor, who is only referred to as an investment director of a Vietnam-based fund. The investor put in the cash in a personal capacity.

The pre-investment valuation of BankGo was US$3 million according to the startup, but it would not disclose its valuation after the funding.

The seed money should keep the company going for the next year, at which point it plans to go for its series A round. Co-founder Cong Tran tells Tech in Asia that venture capital firms are currently following the team’s progress.

BankGo targets $4 million in loans booked through its platform in the coming year.

BankGo does comparison for financial services like personal loans and credit cards. Users can pick the most attractive option and book it through the site. The startup receives a commission for successful transactions from the chosen bank, while customers use the service for free.

A closed beta of the service launched in March 2016. In that time, it has processed US$250,000 in loans. The site is now in open beta. With the funding, the startup plans to expand its offering to include other financial companies and services like insurance products. It targets US$4 million in loans booked through its platform in the coming year.

BankGo co-founder and CEO Vu Viet Hung – himself a former manager of a number of Vietnamese banks – says the startup’s goal is to make financial products in Vietnam as easy to buy as any other product. “We want to contribute to making financial information in Vietnam more transparent, with better banking services,” he states.

Other financial comparison companies in Southeast Asia include Singapore-based Moneysmart and Hong Kong-headquartered CompareAsia, whose MoneyHero service is expected to debut in Vietnam soon.

Cong says that BankGo’s edge lies in the experience of its management team in the financial sector and its extensive network of partners – it’s currently working with 37 banks. “The market is big enough and competition is good for [us],” he adds.