Vietnamese e-wallet MoMo picks up local AI startup in first acquisition deal

Vietnam’s top payment startup MoMo has made its first acquisition with the purchase of local AI startup Pique in a push to better capitalize the data of its 25 million registered users.

The company, which is backed by global investors such as Warburg Pincus and Goodwater Capital, announced that the transaction was done through its new fund, MoMo Innovation Ventures. The fund was launched when MoMo completed its series D round earlier this year.

Nguyen Manh Tuong, vice chairman and co-CEO of MoMo at its series D fundraising announcement in January./ Photo credit: MoMo

In a statement, MoMo said it has bought all of Pique’s intellectual property and hired its data science and engineering team, including Trinh Xuan Tuan, the AI startup’s founder. 

Established in 2016, Pique was formerly known as Next Smartly. It develops AI-enabled recommendation services for businesses that do not have the resources of Amazon or Netflix to do so. In 2017, Trinh co-authored this paper detailing how his solution generates real-time recommendations even when a platform doesn’t capture enough data on past transactions.

See also: Will Vietnamese companies be sidelined in the AI race? 

Prior to being acquired by MoMo, Pique worked with clients seeking to increase the number of visitors searching for their products and to boost the purchase rate and order value via appropriate product recommendations.

Pique previously raised funds from 500 Startups Vietnam, South Korea’s GS Shop, SBK Tech Ventures, as well as angel investors including Tina Ju, who was an early backer of Alibaba and Baidu in China.

The acquisition is expected to help MoMo better personalize its products and services based on each user’s needs. 

According to Tech in Asia data, MoMo has raised about US$232.7 million to date. The company is facing intense competition at home as Vietnam has become a fintech battleground for regional competitors that want a slice of the country’s booming digital economy.

See also: The key players in Vietnam’s fintech battleground 

MoMo was founded in 2007 by a group of Vietnamese entrepreneurs. The company, which is known to follow the Alipay model, has been looking to move beyond the pure-play digital wallet business model to eventually turn profitable.