Finhay, Vietnam’s leading digital investment platform, announced on Wednesday that it had secured a $25 million Series B round co-led by Openspace Ventures and Vietnam Investment Group.
A clear frontrunner in Vietnam’s booming investment space, Finhay has also fortified its position with the acquisition of a securities brokerage. With this new milestone, Finhay is now the first and so far the only licensed digital investment platform in the country. Its acquisition of Vina Securities enables the platform to expand its ecosystem of investment products further.
Finhay was founded in 2017 by Huy Nghiem, with the mission to provide Vietnamese consumers with easy and convenient digital access to financial services. Starting with fund certificates as its sole product when it started, Finhay has now broadened its scope and aimed to be a holistic financial platform for its users.
“A large number of people are now looking for ways to start investing — often for the first time — and we are exploring different ways to enable them. It’s such an important inflection point,” said Huy.
Considering Vietnam’s rather slow progress in digital investments, Finhay’s 2.7 million registered users hold a significant promise to the country’s push for digitalization in its financial market. In 2021 alone, Finhay gained 150% more users, buoyed by the release of four new products: Cash-wrapped accounts with CIMB, gold trading, a 12-month saving product, and stock trading.
“We believe a massive opportunity exists in Vietnam, which has an enterprising population hungry for the chance to invest smartly,” said Jessica Huang Poleur, Partner at Openspace. “Finhay’s recent developments have paved the way for continued growth as a broader wealth creation platform. We are thrilled to partner with Huy and the relentless Finhay team in their mission.”
Huy said the company is thrilled to welcome Openspace, VIG, and other investors, and looks forward to using the new funding to accelerate the growth of Southeast Asian fintech. The funding round was also participated by Insignia Ventures Partners, TVS, Headline, TNBAura and IVC, among others.
The new capital will be used to invest in strategic business expansion, talent acquisition, and cutting-edge technological capabilities.
Finhay has “significantly altered Vietnamese perceptions and approaches towards financial investing,” reads a press release from Insignia. Its brokerage acquisition positions it to capture the forecasted growth in the Vietnamese securities market. This “first-of-its-kind” move has enabled the company to broaden its range of wealth-creating services.
Over the last few years, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Finhay has already made outstanding developments. It doubled its team size in the past year, with 50 new employees joining the business, and partnered with more than 50 “prestigious” financial institutions, including domestic and international banks, investment funds, and fintech businesses.
Finhay was awarded Runner-up at Fintech Summit 2019 by Vietnam Silicon Valley Accelerator, World Top 100 Fintech in 2019. Mr. Huy Nghiem was also listed as one of Asia’s Forbes 30 under 30 in 2020.