GOTO Chooses to Leave Vietnam, While Several Local Startups Continue to Strengthen Their Presence There

Exactly a week ago, PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk ("GoTo") officially announced the closure of operations in Vietnam , effective September 16, 2024. This step was taken as part of the company's strategy to focus on markets that have a significant impact on long-term growth.

Vietnam only contributes less than 0,5% to the group's Gross Transaction Value (GTV) and 2% of services GTV. on-demand. Therefore, this closure is considered not to have a material impact on the company's operations or financial condition. GoTo ensures that the closure process will follow local regulations, and remains committed to the target of EBITDA breakeven in 2024.

Despite decacorn While this local has given up on the Vietnamese market, there are still a number of local startups that have a base there, including:

Ruangguru

Ruangguru started expansion into Vietnam under the name Kien Guru in 2019. Vietnam became the first country for expansion Ruangguru because it is considered to have the same problems as those faced by Indonesia and several other developing countries in the field of education.

Business activities in Vietnam were further strengthened after they announced in May 2023 acquisition of Mclass, a platform live teaching Vietnamese origin. This is referred to as the company's strategic move to expand its reach and increase its capabilities in the region.

Green Rebels

Plant-based food startup Green Rebel Foods officially launched its products in Vietnam, which also marks its latest expansion action in the region.

It was stated in its initial debut that Green Rebel had collaborated with seven partners in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to market its products, including Annam Group, eMart, Genshai, Laang Saigo, L's Place, MM Mega Market Vietnam, and Organic Convenience Stores.

PasarPolis

After booking Series A funding in 2018, one year later the startup insurtech PasarPolis promote regional expansion by Entering the Vietnamese market. One of the strategies is to build strategic cooperation with local partners, including Atadi, Sendo and Go-Viet (Gojek is one of the investors PasarPolis). They also appointed a Country Manager to lead the business there.

"By connecting PasarPolis With partner-owned platforms, we can offer a variety of insurance products from many companies to their consumers. Document verification that is carried out digitally offers a fast claim process for consumers, the process can be completed in three minutes," said Founder & CEO PasarPolis Cleosent Randing in his official statement at that time.

My Capital (Funding Societies)

After being present in 4 countries in Southeast Asia, Modalku has started Enter Vietnam Market since 2022. With this expansion, Modalku serves MSMEs in various sectors, such as education, retail, technology, and FMCG, by offering trade financing, inventory financing, receivables and payables financing products in Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, and surrounding areas.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, access to capital has hampered the growth of MSMEs in Vietnam. Based on data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam, MSMEs accounted for 98% of total businesses in 2020. However, only 54% of registered MSMEs were actively operating in 2019. In fact, MSMEs have provided employment to 5,6 million people and contributed more than $241 billion or 40% of GDP in Vietnam.

NusaTrip

OTA platforms NusaTrip announced the opening of a regional office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in March 2023. The regional office will focus on creating various sales strategy initiatives and working closely with the tourism ecosystem in the country.

After the Covid-19 pandemic showed recovery, Vietnam reopened its doors to international tourists in March 2022. Since then, Vietnam's domestic tourism industry has seen strong growth and has attracted more than four million foreign tourists.

This expansion was then strengthened by NusaTrip's acquisition of a B2B travel accommodation startup called VLeisure. It is hoped that VLeisure's solution that serves small to medium-sized hotels can expand NusaTrip's service coverage and reach there.

Fuse

Startups insurtech Fuse start present in Vietnam in 2021 with an initial focus on selling microinsurance products. Regarding its business growth in other countries such as Vietnam, it is noted that Fuse has currently issued more than 5 million policies in the land of the blue dragon as of the end of 2022.

There Fuse offers micro insurance products through e-channels.trade at a price that is affordable for all people. Then recently, Fuse replicated the Business to Agent/Broker to Customer model – which has proven to be successfully developed in the Indonesian market – to Vietnam.

According to data from the e-Conomy SEA 2022 report published by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company. Vietnam's digital economic growth is projected to be brilliant in 2025. Vietnam is predicted to reach a GMV of $23 billion by the end of 2022 and US$49 billion by 2025.

The general insurance industry in Vietnam is also predicted to grow as it is supported by a strong economic recovery, an increase in the frequency of natural disasters, and the growth of compulsory insurance.

Kredivo

Kredivo The Group officially announced its expansion into Vietnam in August 2021. The products were rolled out in stages, starting with bill payments and personal loans, followed by paylater in Q4 2021.

This service expansion was carried out through j with Phoenix Holding, an investment company (family office) local. "Kredivo Vietnam Joint Stock Company", the name of the new entity, also partnered with VietCredit Joint Stock Company, a finance company in Vietnam to operate the business paylater.