Vietnamese retailer Seedcom Group has announced a strategic partnership with Kasikorn Vision, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kasikornbank Public Company Limited, a leading financial institution in Thailand.
As the first and only local retail group with integrated online and offline retail systems driven by logistics and technology, Seedcom manages brands such as The Coffee House, Juno, HNoss, KingfoodMart, Haravan, iPOS, SCommerce (Giao Hang Nhanh, Ahamove) and KiotViet.
Under the strategic partnership, Seedcom and KVision will strive towards providing merchants and customers in Viet Nam with financial services, including payment solutions, SME lending and other adjacent services such as insurance and wealth management. BDA Partners advised Seedcom on the collaboration and KVision will also hold a stake in Seedcom through this partnership.
The partnership with KVision came at an opportune moment as Seedcom continues to cement its position as the leading New Retail Ecosystem in Viet Nam, with operations spanning across technology, F&B, fashion, groceries and other consumer products.
The Group has been focusing on developing its data and new retail capabilities during the current COVID-19 situation. The addition of financial products from KVision will be highly synergistic with the growing platform.
“We share a common goal with KVision in promoting non-cash transactions and financial inclusion in Viet Nam. Even though cash is still king here, we believe the market is ready for disruption. Through the combination of our large customer and merchant base, and KVision’s innovative financial solutions, there will be a lot of business opportunities to capture in the market, ” said Nguyen Hoanh Tien, CEO of Seedcom.
Pattanapong Tansomboon, Managing Director of KVision said: “We see tremendous potential in Viet Nam market and we strongly believe that Seedcom’s strategic direction is very well aligned with us- focusing on the retail segment with digital enabler solutions. Now with our new bank branch in HCMC and a strong partnership with Seedcom, we look forward to bringing about our innovative financial solutions and product offerings to Seedcom’s ecosystem in order to serve Vietnam market.”— VNS