AppotaPay, a unit of digital content producer Appota Group, announced that it has received a payment intermediary license from the State Bank of Vietnam.
The license allows AppotaPay to operate and offer electronic payment gateways as well as e-wallet and collection services. With this latest approval, the country’s central bank has now granted licenses to 39 service providers.
AppotaPay receives payment intermediary license from State Bank of Vietnam. Source: Appota Group
Appota Group’s entry into the electronic payment space is a significant move as the Vietnam-based company plans to build an ecosystem of game publishing, advertising, esports, among others.
It’s also taking on VNG, the parent firm of Vietnam’s leading e-wallet player, ZaloPay. Zalo, VNG’s popular free messaging app, has 52 million monthly active users and has been looking to attract its users to ZaloPay.
AppotaPay, which claims to have 55 million users, could be a major competitor to ZaloPay.
However, these users are gathered from different products and services of Appota entertainment ecosystem, the company told Tech in Asia when asked if this figure was indeed its monthly active users. It further added that it will integrate this user base into AppotaPay.
See also: Vietnam’s e-wallet war has just begun, and it will be brutal
“Prior to our licensing, AppotaPay only operated for our in-house services such as payment for game titles that Gamota (a subsidiary of Appota) published. Now that our license is approved, we can now provide a broader range of services in the payment market and reach more customers,” a company spokesperson told Tech in Asia.
In March 2018, Appota acquired WiFi Chua, a mobile app that provides access to public WiFi in Vietnam via password sharing. The deal allowed Appota to reach 50 million users in the smartphone products and services ecosystem.
AppotaPay was established in September 2015 to provide payment solutions for the digital entertainment industry. Since then, it has grown to include over 1,000 direct point-of-sale (POS) and 10,000 indirect POS systems.
In 2017, Appota raised an undisclosed sum from a series C round led by Korea Investment Partners and Mirae Asset Venture Investment, pushing its valuation to US$50 million.*
(This article was added with updates at 3:50pm SGT)
Edited by Terence Lee and Eileen C. Ang
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