Momo, Vietnam’s Alipay, sees bright future in digital wave, expanding middle class

Vietnam’s largest mobile-payment platform, Momo, aims to solidify its market leadership by capitalising on the Southeast Asian country’s burgeoning digital economy and expanding middle class.

The company, dubbed Vietnam’s Alipay, is expanding its presence in offline consumption and broadening its financial services and merchant solutions to serve its growing user base, according to Manisha Shah, chief financial officer.

“We continue to see a large unmet need,” Shah said in an interview last week in Ho Chi Minh City. “We look to grow, and grow where we have a competitive advantage. We want to go through the user’s journey and bring them along.”

Founded in 2007, Momo has amassed more than 31 million registered users or about one-third of the population, with services spanning bill payment, e-commerce and insurance products. The fintech firm has secured US$430 million in funding across five rounds from financial backers including Warburg Pincus, Macquarie Capital and Goldman Sachs, according to Crunchbase.

Over the past five years, its base of monthly active users has been growing at a rapid pace. Payment volume has increased around 50 times, while revenue has surged about 30 times, Shah said, without providing exact numbers.

As the Vietnamese government aims to increase cashless transactions by 80 to 100 per cent annually – with the country’s middle class projected to grow at a similar pace – Shah believes Momo is well-positioned for further success.

“As a market leader, we should be able to grow at least that much,” she said.