AppotaPay joins e-wallet race in Vietnam

The newly-introduced e-wallet is a subsidiary of Appota Group which has a 55-million-user base and specializes in digital entertainment in Vietnam, it said in a statement to media.

In order to get the license, the business has to meet stringent requirements, including a minimum charter capital of VND50 billion, high technical infrastructure and technological solutions that ensure absolutely safe and continuous services, as well as properbusiness strategy and corporate structure that facilitate the running of the payment business.

Conglomerates with diverse ecosystems of products and services are the key drivers of the development of e-wallets in Vietnam. Moca is the payment service provider for all of Grab's services such as ride-hailing and financial services.

Nextpay, a subsidiary of NextTech Group, operates in loan and mortgage, e-commerce, insurance, logistics and ride-hailing service sectors. And ViettelPay is now partnered with MyGo – a short and long-haul transportation platform under Viettel Group.

In a similar manner, AppotaPay is also part of Appota Group's ecosystem. AppotaPay provides specialized payment solutions for digital entertainment contents in Vietnam. Appota Group's ecosystem has over 55 million users and more than 5,000 B2B customers.

The majority of users have come from the company's published games, followed by entertainment-content mobile apps, and its newly minted enterprise management platform.

Compared to other players who don't have existing eco-systems and therefore, could take a long time to acquire users, this is a major advantage of AppotaPay.

E-commerce is one of the fastest growing industries in Vietnam, especially in the post-pandemic period. All of the big four e-commerce players in Vietnam including Shopee, Tiki, Lazada and Sendo - have e-wallets in their platforms.

The Vietnamese government has set the goal to reach an e-payment penetration rate of 30% by 2025, which indicates that the market is now more open for all e-wallet players to participate.

In the first six months of 2020, Vietnam saw significant growth in the technology industry despite being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. E-payment, to be precise, is one of the industries that skyrocketed during this period.

With a population of 97 million people, Vietnam has an internet penetration rate of 70 percent, and 34 percent of the people are connected to the Internet via mobile. Vietnam is considered a high potential market for the growth of e-commerce and e-payment sectors.

Appota is a pioneering organization in providing technology solutions and digital entertainment content in Vietnam. Appota's ecosystem has over 55 million users and the company is also one of the major game publishers in Vietnam. Appota is also the exclusive partner of Facebook to develop the Facebook Gaming Creator platform in Vietnam. Key business areas include: Game Publishing, Gaming Creators Network, Advertisement, Payment, Smart Office, and Internet Infrastructure.

In 2017, it raised an undisclosed Series C funding round from Korea Investment Partners (KIP). Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Kiwoom Investment, and Seoul Investment Partners.

Founded in 2011, Appota graduated from the Topica Founder Institute as the "Best Start-up of the Year" in 2013 and went from a small team of 10 to almost 400 employees globally in 2020.