AppotaPay, a subsidiary of game publisher Appota Group, is the latest fintech player in the country to acquire a payment intermediary license from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), according to an announcement. With this issuance, AppotaPay will join an extremely competitive fintech market with 38 other licensed e-wallet players.
The license allows AppotaPay to operate electronic payment gateways, an e-wallet, and payment collection services.
Founded in 2015, AppotaPay provides payment solutions to the digital entertainment industry. The firm has amassed over 55 million users, together with 1,000 direct point-of-sale (POS) and 10,000 indirect POS systems. “The largest proportion of users comes from the game publishing segment, then content apps, and business management apps like ACheckin. Thus, compared to other applications that take a lot of time to attract users, this is a huge advantage of AppotaPay,” said Tran Vinh Quang, chief operating officer (COO) at Appota Group.
“AppotaPay’s target customers over the next 2 to 3 years for payment services are young customers, who are familiar and willing to pay for digital entertainment,” added the COO.
The new license will help the group to build its digital entertainment ecosystem which currently covers game publishing, advertising, e-sports, among the others. The COO told KrASIA that the firm will focus on behavioural research to enhance user experiences, with an ambition to dominate the digital content market.
Vietnam’s digital payment market is projected to reach USD 8.6 billion in 2020, while the total transaction value is expected to grow by 14.1% to USD 14.59 billion by 2024, according to data research firm Statista.
A few players have stood out in Vietnam’s e-wallet market. Momo, one of Vietnam’s leading e-wallets that has amassed 20 million users, or 21% of Vietnam’s 97 million inhabitants, is the first local firm to be counted among the top 100 fintech companies in the world since its launch in 2012.
Momo raised USD 100 million from Warburg Pincus in January, in one of the largest single funding rounds for a Vietnamese startup.
Other notable names include ZaloPay which is part of VNG, the country’s only unicorn, and Moca which has formed a partnership with Grab. Ant Group also reportedly entered the country last summer after acquiring a stake in local payment company eMonkey.
