KiotViet, a merchant platform for SMEs located in Vietnam, has raised US $45 million in a Series B financing sponsored by global investment company KKR.
Jungle Ventures of Singapore, Kasikorn Bank of Thailand, and Cao Viet My, a Vietnamese family investment holding firm, also contributed.
Tri Cao, deputy general director of Citigo, KiotViet’s parent business, told that the new investment will be used to improve the firm’s goods and services.
KiotViet also plans to hire foreign experts to assist new companies, such as finance and B2B e-commerce, as well as grow into international markets.
“The addition of this new capital will only enable them to provide more services to small businesses, who as a segment are a major contributor to GDP throughout Southeast Asia,” stated David Gowdey, managing partner at Jungle Ventures.
KiotViet is a cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) system that was launched in 2014 with the goal of speeding up the digital transformation of micro, small, and medium companies (MSMEs), which account for around 40% of the Vietnamese economy.
KiotViet is capitalizing on the country’s digital transformation effort to help conventional merchants transition to online platforms, particularly during the epidemic.
For more than 110,000 MSME customers, the company promises to provide a full-suite software solution, including POS, inventory management, CRM, and staff administration. KiotViet employed 1,000 employees in 63 provinces and cities across Vietnam last year and claimed a 50% market share.
“Our main barrier is the status quo. Many family-owned small business owners have been running their businesses using traditional book-keeping processes for decades. This is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process,” added Cao.
KiotViet has now added a B2B procurement marketplace and integrated logistical services to its merchants’ offerings. Financial services such as payments and lending will also be available through the site.
Jungle Ventures and Traveloka invested $6 million in the business in a Series A investment in 2019.
