Two Vietnamese fintech startups, mobile wallet platform Vimo Technology JSC and point-of-sales platform mPOS Technology JSC, are joining forces and rebranding as NextPay Holdings, Bloomberg reports.
NextPay will provide a one-stop payment solution for merchants, letting them utilize its POS system and accept payments from customers. With this merger, mPOS’s former CEO Nguyen Huu Tuat will be at the helm of NextPay, while Nguyen Hoa Binh, the founder of both Vimo and mPOS, will be NextPay’s chairman. NextPay is currently in talks to raise about USD 30 million to accelerate the company’s innovation and help it to expand into Myanmar and Indonesia next year.
As the Vietnamese economy continues to grow, the government is encouraging its people to embrace digital payments to decrease the amount of US dollars in circulation and strengthen the presence of the Vietnamese dong.
A recent report released by Visa suggested that cashless payments in Vietnam have been showing positive progress. In 2018, the total value of purchases made by consumers in the country on their Visa credit and debit cards increased by 37%, while the number of transactions increased by 25% from the previous year. The research also found that 44% of respondents now make payments through digital apps, 32% are using contactless payment tech, and 19% have used QR payment methods.
