Danny Le, CEO of Masan Group Corporation, receives the investment registration certificate for buying stakes worth US$105 million in Trust IQ of Singapore. — Photo courtesy of Masan
The Sherpa Company Limited, a subsidiary of Masan Group Corporation, has received the offshore investment registration certificate to carry out investment activities in Singapore.
It was handed over at a ceremony held during the Business Forum on February 10 within the framework of Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính's official visit to Singapore.
The investment worth US$105 million fetches the company a 25 per cent stake equivalent to 9.38 million shares in local tech company Trust IQ Pte. Ltd.
The investment is part of Masan's strategic goal to create a consumer – retail – technology ecosystem capable of serving 80 per cent of Vietnamese consumers by 2025.
To realise that goal, Masan has been gradually optimising the ecosystem by integrating strategic pieces such as financial services, banking, insurance, healthcare, entertainment, etc. into a wide network of points of sale and digital technology and artificial intelligence platforms.
TS is primarily in software development, technology and applications on a global scale, which includes the development of comprehensive, accurate credit risk assessment methods based on AI technology.
The investment in TS will accelerate Masan’s application of artificial intelligence in retail (Retail AI), and artificial intelligence in consumption (Consumer AI).
Masan and TS will work together to build platforms for Retail AI and Consumer AI.
They will develop a loyalty programme that uses AI and machine learning (ML) technologies in the consumer sector, integrating offline and online to contribute to an optimal O2O experience and minimise consumption costs for Vietnamese customers, and build a credit access platform for consumers by issuing credit cards for mass consumers without requiring proof of income.
WinCommerce (the operator of WinMart/WinMart+/WIN retail chain) will, with a high-tech platform from TS, collaborate with domestic financial partners to drive new credit card usage towards the goal of universalisation of credit access in Việt Nam.
With the integration of technology from TS into its consumer-retail platform, Masan Group aims to become a leading enterprise that meets the daily needs of nearly 100 million Vietnamese consumers on both offline and online platforms. — VNS