Miguel Cordon · · 2 min readVingroup founder invests in Grab competitor Be
Photo credit: Be Group
Green and Smart Mobility (GSM) said it will back ride-hailer Be Group‘s efforts to use electric vehicles in Vietnam. This involves a direct investment in Be Group from GSM, though an exact amount was not given.
GSM was just launched earlier this month by Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong. The firm has a charter capital of US$125.7 million, with the Vietnamese billionaire owning a 95% stake in the entity.
In the first phase of their collaboration, Be Group and GSM will partner with Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) to offer exclusive policy deals for Be drivers to rent or purchase VinFast electric cars and motorbikes.
The two companies will also share a ride-hailing platform. Customers can choose between GSM’s electric taxi service or beCar and beTaxi when booking on the Be platform.
See also: Is Vietnam late to Southeast Asia’s digital banking party?
On top of operating its own services, GSM will also provide vehicles for online and traditional taxi service providers. The firm will be granted an initial 10,000 cars and 100,000 motorbikes for its operations.
Meanwhile, Be Group is the startup behind the “Be” multi-service consumer platform. It provides services such as transportation, goods delivery, food delivery, grocery shopping, insurance, and telecom, as well as digital banking through Cake by VPBank.
In September 2022, Be Group secured a loan facility of about US$60 million from Deutsche Bank, with the option to increase financing up to US$100 million.
Editing by Thu Huong Le and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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