ON, a social commerce business located in Vietnam has acquired US $1.1 million in initial investment from local venture capital firm Touchstone Partners, with participation from VC firm-cum-accelerator ThinkZone Ventures.
ON plans to use this to strengthen its local presence and develop software solutions to help sellers with management, distribution, and funding.
Giang Nguyen (a former tech lead at Vietnamese ICT behemoth FPT), Dzung Luu (who formerly oversaw the operation at Vietnamese ride-hailing company BE), and Minh Nguyen created ON in 2021. (Former CFO of Logivan).
The startup assists entrepreneurs in creating an online business and earning extra cash by assisting with orders, fulfillment, refunds, shipping, and transactions. Sellers on the site market items through social media networks in exchange for a commission.
According to the company, each vendor might make up to $300 every month.
ON says that over 10,000 people have registered up to sell on the site since its start, with 90% of those being women. Small towns and rural areas are home to the great majority of merchants.
Vietnam is expected to be the fastest-growing e-commerce industry in Southeast Asia by 2026, according to a Google and Bain & Company analysis, with e-commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) reaching 56 billion USD, 4.5 times the forecast value in 2021.
