VinaCapital Ventures leads funding round for Vietnamese social selling platform

VinaCapital Ventures, a US$100 million venture capital fund focused on tech startups in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, announced that it led an investment round for social ecommerce platform Ecomobi.

The terms of the funding were not disclosed.

Additional investors in the round include Korea-based firms GS Shop, Naver Group, and Line Ventures. ESP Capital is also making an additional investment to follow up on its seed funding for Ecomobi last year, according to a statement.

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Founded in 2016, Vietnam-based Ecomobi builds partnerships with publishers and facilitates commerce through social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Zalo, and Instagram. It uses AI, machine learning, and chatbots to help brands connect with key opinion leaders and sell their products through reviews, promoted content, and product experience.

“This year and next, we’re aiming to launch in Malaysia and the Philippines, and we look forward to expanding to other markets in the region and potentially beyond,” said Ecomobi CEO and founder Thanh Truong.

The company currently has operations in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. It works with ecommerce giants such as Tokopedia, Shopee, Tiki, and Lazada, as well as brands such as Sony, Samsung, and Vascara.

In 2018, Ecomobi claims to have helped more than 100 brands and ecommerce sites sell over US$100 million in merchandise value. It said it’s on track to double those numbers this year.

VinaCapital Ventures’ recent deals include its participation in a US$15.2 million round for Singapore-based peer-to-peer lending platform Validus Capital. It also participated in a seed funding round for Vietnam-based digital gifting and loyalty platform UrBox.

VinaCapital Ventures is part of VinaCapital, one of Vietnam’s leading asset management companies, which completed its acquisition of Singapore-based robo-advisory platform Smartly in July.