Sendo raises $51 million from SoftBank Ventures Korea and other investors

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Aug. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sen Do Technology JSC (Sendo), the #1 Vietnamese C2C marketplace, today announced that it has secured an investment of USD 51 million led by the SBI Group from Japan for Series B round, having SoftBank Ventures Korea, Daiwa PI Partners, and SKS Ventures as new investors. The funding round from investors in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan was participated by all the existing investors, including SBI Group, FPT Group, eContext Asia, BEENEXT, and BEENOS.

Nguyen Dac Viet Dung, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Sendo, said: "The funding would help the company to expand the C2C platform Sendo, launch the B2C marketplace SenMall, and making SenPay the leading fintech platform in Vietnam. Our ultimate goal is to continue to support hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese sellers to prosper, and along the way help creating millions of jobs for the Vietnamese people. Having achieved the annualized GMV of 330 million USD, the company is on track to surpass USD 1 billion of GMV in 2020."

Daniel Kang, Partner and Managing Director of SoftBank Ventures Korea, said: "Vietnam is at its inflection point, bolstered by rapid GDP growth, young population and willingness to adopt technology. Against this backdrop, Vietnam's e-commerce has strong growth potential and we believe Sendo's marketplace model will benefit from the environments the most." 

In a fast-growing e-commerce market, Sendo has differentiated itself by focusing on not only Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City but also the untapped Tier 2 cities population, where 70 million Vietnamese people live. Being a homegrown company also allows the company to have deep understanding of the Vietnamese local market and culture. Sendo currently serves more than 300,000 sellers and millions of buyers in all 63 provinces in Vietnam. To achieve its fast growth, Sendo focuses on utilizing the strength of partners in the ecosystem, such as merchants, third-party logistics, and advertising companies. The company also provides SenPay, a Mobile Wallet Service and Fintech solution on Sendo Platform as well as the off-line world.

Introduction of Sendo:

Launched in March 2012, Sendo is the #1 C2C marketplace in Vietnam, offering more than 10 million of products on its platform. This is also the first e-commerce marketplace combined with logistics providers and banks to provide customers with a full package of guaranteed transaction. In 2016, Sendo's fintech subsidiary FPT Wallet, which operates Senpay, received e-payment licensed from the State Bank of Vietnam.

Introduction of SoftBank Ventures Korea

Established in year 2000, SoftBank Ventures Korea is the only global early-stage venture capital arm of SoftBank Group based in Seoul, Korea. SoftBank Ventures Korea invests in start-ups with a strong potential in Asia, the U.S., Israel, and the EU, focusing on AI, IoT, and smart robotics industry. To date, Softbank Ventures Korea has invested US$600 million across 230 start-up companies.

Introductions of Daiwa PI Partners

Daiwa PI Partners is an entity of Daiwa Securities Group which engages in the principle investment business. Since its establishment starting out as a player in the debt investment field in 1998, Daiwa PI Partners has been broadly expanding its business, which now extends not only to debt investment but private equity and energy investment as well. It now engages in various investments worldwide, i.e., in Japan, Vietnam, and other Asian countries, U.K., and Australia.

Introduction of SKS Ventures

SKS Ventures is a global investment management institution established in late 2017. It manages over four funds, over USD350 million AUM, covering direct investments, funds of funds, pre-IPOs and leverage buyouts in industries such as TMT, education, beauty, packaging, biotech, manufacturing, IoT and more. SKS Ventures invests strategically and globally in China, Vietnam, the US, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. SKS Ventures integrates and revamps the current hardware industry to keep up with the changes and demands of the current and future retail, software and automobile market place.

Introduction of FPT Group

FPT is the biggest IT service company in Vietnam and region with more than 32.000 employees, including nearly 14.000 technology specialists.

FPT currently provides IT service in 33 countries all over the world, with key markets such as Japan, the U.S and Europe. As a pioneer in 4.0 revolution, FPT, together with global leading corporations which own 4.0 technology platforms in the world such as GE, Siemens, AWS,... is pioneering in digital transformation for customers in over the world.

Introduction of SBI Group

The SBI Group is Japan's leading financial services company which was established in 1999 as a pioneer of Internet-based financial services, and currently has formed the world's first Internet-based financial conglomerate, providing financial services in a broad range of fields including securities, banking and insurance. The SBI Group also globally manages a number of private equity and venture capital funds. As a pioneer in the Fintech industry and after years of actively investing in start-up companies in the sectors such as IT, mobile, bio-life science and Fintech, the SBI Group has now become a global leader in making active investments in the area of Fintech, artificial intelligence and Blockchain. With an aim to expand the Group's footprint in Southeast Asia, SBI Group has invested in and added value to a number of technology and financial services companies in the region as well.

Introduction of eContext Asia

Established in Sep 2012, EContext Asia is a holding company of payment businesses for the global expansion of EC platforms of all types.

Introduction of BEENEXT

BEENEXT is the Venture Capital managed by serial entrepreneurs and focuses on assisting founders with operational experience, global network, trust and the capital. The team invests in early-stage tech startups in Vietnam, other South East Asia, India, Japan and USA that create the Digital Platform (Marketplace, Payment, Fintech, AI, Data, SaaS, IoT, Healthcare, Agritech) with the power of network, technology and data. It supports the company's exponential growth via unique data generation and platform plays.

Introduction of BEENOS

BEENOS was founded in 1999 as an E-commerce marketplace during the early phase of Internet-related businesses in the Japanese market. Its business model is divided into two segments: the E-Commerce segment that engages in a variety of E-Commerce businesses domestically and internationally, and the Incubation segment which invests in tech startups mainly in Southeast Asia, Japan, and the US as well as creates new business opportunities for other subsidiaries. BEENOS's mission is to connect Japan with the world on the global platform frontier. BEENOS and one of its subsidiaries are publicly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Contact: Ms Nguyen Ho Huyen Trinh - Marketing Director email: [email protected], phone: +84 (028) 73001188 

SOURCE Sen Do Technology JSC