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At Tech in Asia’s Saigon Summit last May, Niraan De Silva, CEO of fintech company VNLife, noted how much of Vietnam’s economy still runs on paper, so there’s an opportunity for firms looking to digitalize it.
That observation is most apparent at the corner store closest to my house in Hanoi. Every time I visit, the lady working the till diligently lists down whatever I’ve purchased on a piece of paper.
It looks like a tedious process, especially when you consider how there’s software available that eliminates the need for manual data entry and provides other benefits.
Startups like Telio are trying to take these mom and pop shops into the 21st century but it’s no easy task, as an interview with a store owner at the end of today’s featured piece illustrates. While it’s tough sledding, Telio reckons it can achieve profitability by mid-2026 with the help of some cost-cutting.
Today we look at:
- Telio’s cost-cutting path to fresh funds and profit
- Temasek-linked SeaTown Holdings, which closed a fund worth US$1.3 billion
- Other newsy highlights such as Indian AI startup Convin’s US$6.5 million funding haul and why global tech giants lambasted Malaysia’s licensing plans
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The tale of Telio
Image credit: Timmy Loen
B2B ecommerce startup Telio has big plans for the next couple of years.
The Vietnam-based firm aims to raise between US$10 million and US$15 million by the end of this year and is gunning for EBITDA-positive profitability by mid-2026.
- Game plan: Telio was founded in 2018 and has raised US$52.5 million in funding across five rounds. It was one of the first startups to digitalize cửa hàng tạp hoá, local mom and pop stores that number 1.4 million in the country.
- Strategy shift: B2B ecommerce is tough sector; in other markets, even firms with hundreds of millions in funding have yet to hit profitability. However, Telio founder and CEO Sy Phong Bui told Tech in Asia that he was confident his company could beat the odds. Since mid-2022, Telio has shifted gears by shrinking its costs with measures like scaling back the number of areas where it operates and moving away from low-margin items like beer.
- AI play: Telio says 70% of store owners in its network place their orders via its app, but it has plans to launch an ordering system that’s even more high tech. Dubbed as “Alexa for sourcing,” the AI-powered virtual sales assistant will use smart speakers to manage orders for store owners as well as announce new products or discounts.
Read more: Telio’s cost-cutting gambit for new funding
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