HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — M_Services JSC, the company that sells MoMo or Mobile Money service, has raised US$25 million from Standard Chartered Private Equity and $3 million from global investment bank Goldman Sachs.

But the company has not divulged how much stake it has sold to them or the price of the shares.

Pham Thanh Duc, the company's CEO, said: "Finding the right partners is important for MoMo.

"We are very pleased to announce Standard Chartered Private Equity has become MoMo's strategic investor together with our existing shareholder and strategic investor Goldman Sachs, who previously invested $5.75m in our company in 2013 and also participated in this round of equity financing.

"We will accelerate MoMo's rapid growth by continuing to invest in the launching of new products and services, expanding bank and merchant connectivity, and extending the nationwide installation of MoMo point-of-sale terminals at retail outlets."

MoMo is Viet Nam's leading mobile e-wallet and over-the-counter remittance and payment platform, processing millions of transactions for a customer base of over 2.5 million.

With over a million mobile e-wallet customers, it provides a smartphone-based application that offers more than 100 services, including money transfer, bill payment, collection and disbursement, and mobile commerce.

It has a physical network of over 4,000 OTC agents in 45 provinces where banking services and smartphones are less prevalent.

Bert Kwan, head of ASEAN at SCPE, will join the company's as a director. — VNS