the The majority of Vietnam’s population lives in rural areas They often lack access to financial services because banks and other institutions open most of their physical locations in cities. Mufast It wants to change that with what it says is Vietnam’s leading financial services distribution network. The company announced today that it has raised $6 million in a Series A funding round, led by Wavemaker Partners. The round also secured participation from new investors Finnoventure Fund I (managed by Krungsri Innovate) and Headline Asia, along with returning backers Do Ventures, JAFCO Asia and Ascend Vietnam Ventures.
This brings MFast’s total raised in the six years since launch to $10 million, including a pre-Series A round of $1.5 million from TechCrunch covered in June 2021. MFast’s network currently has 160,000 active agents working with clients in Tier Cities. 2 and level 3 throughout Vietnam. It has served more than 1 million users in Vietnam so far. The company will use its new funding to expand its operations in Vietnam, with plans to expand outside the country, starting with the Philippines, by next year.
MFast helps its customers access financial services, including loans and insurance, and expensive items such as home appliances from brands that would not normally open retail outlets in rural areas. Its agents join MFast to generate additional income and are provided with an agent app that acts as a “micro CRM” by MFast.
The company was launched in 2017 as DigiPay fintech brand by twin brothers Long Phan and Vinh Phan and currently has partnerships with financial institutions such as UOB, SHBFinance and TPBank.
Long Van told TechCrunch that he and Vinh were born in a Tier 3 city near the Cambodian border, and moved to Ho Chi Minh City to obtain their college degrees. “Since we have lived in both rural and urban areas, we have witnessed firsthand the difficulties that people from backgrounds like ours face in accessing formal financial services,” he said. At the same time, they also saw the challenges that people in their hometowns face when trying to obtain higher education and build a career.
MFast was created to help agents get started in the financial advisory and advisory business, while giving consumers access to bank accounts, loans, insurance and other financial products. Provided with online training courses and offline workshops, the agents help end customers open CASA bank accounts, loans, credit cards, insurance, or purchase devices with interest-free purchase financing options.
The company’s new funding will be used for its own technology. Fan said MFast plans to roll out new features such as an Agent360 profile portal, credit scoring engine, AI fraud detector, and end-user app. It plans to expand into the Philippines while growing its dealer network in Vietnam. Most of MFast’s agents come through referrals, or “agent-get-agent”, along with MFast’s online acquisition strategies through SEO and performance marketing. Fan says prospective agents can download the MFast app and register in four minutes.
MFast competes with companies that act as agents for financial institutions, but Fan said most do not have technology integration or applications. It is also competing with a tech startup called The Bank, but Fan said the bank is still relatively new to the market and is using the comparison site market, allowing users to compare financial products and charging for each lead generated on its platform.
MFast stands out through its agent network and well-established financial institution base, which continues to grow. It also uses technology to help agents operate more effectively by ensuring transparency in every interaction with stakeholders such as end users and by capturing data such as user demographics, preferences and financial status. This data enables MFast to build a credit scoring engine, sales engine, and product development strategy that includes creating exclusive products.
In a statement about the investment, Phuong Tran, Director, Wavemaker Partners, said: “With its strong dealer base and initial focus on financial products, MFast has delivered impressive results. Wavemaker is proud to strengthen and support our partnership with the company as it enters its next phase of growth.