Mio, a Vietnamese social commerce network, has raised $8 million in a Series A round-headed by Jungle Ventures. Patamar Capital, a new investor, and Oliver Jung, an angel investor, joined current supporters of GGV Capital, Venturra, Hustle Fund, iSEED SEA, and Gokul Rajaram in their investment. Mio’s total capital raised to far is $9.1 million dollars.
Mio intends to utilise the additional cash to expand its fulfilment centre network, strengthen its logistics and supply chain skills, and enter new regions in Vietnam.
Mio is a supermarket and fresh produce group buying platform founded in June 2020 by serial entrepreneurs Trung Huynh, An Pham, Long Pham, and Tu Le. Mio’s agent network delivers 10,000 orders every day to tens of thousands of families in Ho Chi Minh City and its adjacent lower-tier cities. It takes less than 16 hours to get fresh vegetable orders from the field to the table.
Currently, the firm concentrates on food basics such as fresh vegetables and chicken. It intends to expand its FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) and home appliance offerings. The firm plans to invest in new fulfilment centres and supply chain efforts in the future to further shorten delivery times, slash prices, and expand its services to other cities.
The firm claims to have had exceptional success in the previous 12 months, with its GMV increasing by more than 50 times and daily deliveries of over 10,000 fresh produce goods.
According to a press release, the startup’s Mio Partner model promises to provide financial independence to millions of Vietnamese women by democratising business chances. Many of these partners are women who operate as resellers, aggregating, placing, and managing orders through the Mio app from their personal social network of friends and relatives. In exchange, the partners may earn up to $400 in commissions, with 10% on each order and further fees based on the monthly success of resellers they brought to the platform.
Mio is now available in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Long An, with plans to extend to the northern area of Vietnam in the following months.
Co-Founder Trung Huynh said, “Mio aims to create a virtuous ecosystem of growth for our Mio Partners and consumers. We have created thousands of jobs for women in suburban districts and lower-tier cities of Vietnam. As we scale, we will continue to drive financial independence among more women in Vietnam, expand our services to more markets, and serve our consumers with better products and service.”
My Tran, VP (Investments) at Jungle Ventures, said, “With the rising internet penetration, we are very bullish on social commerce as it will be the next driver of growth for tier 2 and 3 towns in the region, racing ahead of traditional commerce models, as consumers demand at par choice, experience and service. Mio is an innovative business with terrific growth potential addressing the US $50 billion grocery opportunity in Vietnam.”
