The Gimo team along with its investor ThinkZone Ventures. — Photo courtesy of Gimo
Gimo, a Vietnamese fintech start-up serving underbanked workers, has announced that it has secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from ThinkZone Ventures, BK Fund and other angel investors.
Launched in late 2019 by co-founders Nguyen Van Ngoc and Nguyen Anh Quan, Gimo looks to provide Vietnamese working adults with earned wage access (EWA), which means instant access to their income ahead of a scheduled payday.
“As an early investor of Gimo, ThinkZone Ventures is delighted to share the same aspiration with BK Fund and other strategic angel investors. We can see appealing market opportunities for Gimo and the EWA platform. More importantly, we highly appreciate the difference they are making for the underbanked community. Gimo will have our full support to democratise this solution and contribute to Viet Nam’s financial inclusion in the time to come," said Bui Thanh Do, founding partner of ThinkZone.
According to the World Bank’s Global Findex Database 2017, nearly two-thirds of Viet Nam’s adult population do not own a bank account or have limited access to a formal lending system, the highest rate in Southeast Asia.
Often, Vietnamese people must rely on costly financial services such as long-term, high-ticket-size bank loans or high-interest loans in cash flow emergencies.
“As one of the EWA pioneers in Viet Nam, Gimo hopes to fill in the market gap by addressing unmet financial needs of dozens of millions of workers out there and, at the same time, increasing their job security, financial wellness, and loyalty," said Nguyen Anh Quan, Gimo’s Co-founder and CEO.
At the early stage, Gimo users can request an income payment in advance and track earnings through a mobile app integrated into their companies’ human resource management and payroll systems. All transactions are made in real-time and are transparent.
In the future, the company plans to build and operate a payroll super-app that connects multi-parties including employers, banks and financial institutions, retailers, insurance companies and so on, providing workers with value-added features such as mobile shopping and personal finance management.
“We are very proud to see more and more fintech start-ups like Gimo dedicated to solving pressing social problems," said Pham Dinh Doan – Chairman of Phu Thai Group and Chairman of BK Fund, a venture capital fund led by Hanoi University of Science and Technology.
“BK Fund looks forward to working with Gimo’s team to expand their outreach and impact through our connected alumni, business and partner networks in Viet Nam," Doan added. — VNS