A complete list of the 18 payment players in Vietnam

We recently covered 10 online payment platforms in Southeast Asia and I figured I’d follow up with a closer look at Vietnam’s landscape. In Vietnam’s space, there are plenty of competitors, but they’ve been limited by banks that are not ready nor supportive, telcos that are still archaic, and a consumer base that has still not adopted credit cards. Nevertheless, this hasn’t stopped several startups from finding all sorts of ways to monetize content and websites.

Below are 18 of the players in the payment space in Vietnam. The list covers traditional online payment platforms, along with some players which, while not exactly “payment platforms,” support monetary transactions in some form or another.

You’ll see the first list of more traditional online payment platforms, and then you’ll see that I listed some players who are not exactly payment platforms, but do support making transactions to consumers in certain niches. This is no doubt the result of the landscape that I’ve summarized above.

It’s a big list, so I’ll tell you right now, some of the most significant players include SmartLink, NganLuong, Mobivi, OnePay, BaoKim, and 123Pay. But time will tell who will be the real winner in this very complex landscape.

If you think there are any players that I missed, don’t hesitate to contact us or comment below and we will add them right away.

Mobivi

Founded by a Vietnamese-American multi-millionaire, Mobivi is one of the biggest names in the Vietnamese payment space, though mainly because of how much money it is carrying, rumored to be over $30 million. Mobivi has long been experimenting with various payment models such as free mobile transactions for non-profit donations, and is now working on online credit card benefits packages for large scale companies. It also allows users to top up their mobile phones straight from their online credit dashboard. Despite its experimentation, it is still not clear yet if Mobivi has generated the traction it needs to be a major player.

NganLuong (from PeaceSoft)

NganLuong has been in the business of mobile and online payments for a long time. It leverages off of its own portfolio of companies at PeaceSoft, which includes Ebay.vn and Chodientu.vn. MOL, a regional player in payment, took a 50 percent stake in NganLuong earlier this year. The service is multi-faceted, as it’s not only an e-wallet but also a transaction platform like PayPal.

Rev Vietnam

Most people in Vietnam probably haven’t heard of this company, mainly because it hasn’t caught its big break yet. Last year Rev Vietnam made a bold move when it attempted to push temporary credit cards into the market. These cards could be bought for $20 to $100 and used like a normal credit card online. Unfortunately, the service didn’t gain any traction and was shuttered. Since then Rev Vietnam has focused on creating a Square-like dongle that hooks into any smartphone. This also has not gained traction, likely due to the significant barriers to entry – it’s difficult to convince merchants who already prefer cash to accept credit cards.

OnePay

OnePay is the official representative for MasterCard for Vietnam and provides a host of services including bill payment, online transactions, ATM, internet banking, and SMS banking. It’s also backed by Vietcombank, which gives it an even more significant advantage – Vietcombank is Vietnam’s leading bank, after all.

1Pay

Not to be confused with OnePay, this new startup specializes in mobile payment. Aside from the horrible branding, it came to the market after OnePay, and it is not considered to be a company that has very much potential in Vietnam due to the lack of infrastructure in the mobile space and the existence of more evolved competitors. That said, it did win the second prize at the recent DEMO ASEAN.

SmartLink

SmartLink, like its competitors, also has a suite of services for payment. This includes ATM, POS, payment gateways, e-commerce payment offerings, and on top of all that, it has payment kiosks throughout the city. Recently, SmartLink inked a deal with Mobivi to allow people to top up their cards and pay for goods via its kiosks.

SohaPay (from VCCorp)

Started by one of Vietnam’s biggest online media companies, VC Corp. Vc Corp, like VNG, Vat Gia, and PeaceSoft, have a host of services including Mua Chung, En Bạc, Dan Tri, Mua re, Rong Bay, and more. Therefore, it can also leverage its content to get users to use its payment platform. It’s an e-wallet that accepts all the main ATM and credit card methods in Vietnam.

BaoKim (from Vat Gia)

BaoKim’s services are similar to those of NganLuong, including an e-wallet and PayPal-like credit card transactions. Since it’s under Vat Gia, one of Vietnam’s biggest e-commerce sites, it is able to leverage a huge userbase.

MoMo (from Vinaphone)

MoMo is a service created by Vinaphone, one of Vietnam’s biggest telcos. The service allows Vinaphone customers to pay for their bills and access financial services right from their mobile phone. Users can sign up for the services with a series of SMS’s to the Vinaphone system, which will then activate the service. This will then create an e-wallet on top of the customer’s SIM account.

Payoo

VinaPay

123Pay (from VNG)

2C2P (from Thailand)

Vietpay

Viettel, Mobifone, Vinaphone aka Vietnam’s telcos

GiaoHangNhanh

Zship

VNG’s Scratch Cards

The frontiers of Vietnam’s online payment landscape