Singapore-headquartered Spiral Ventures recently announced that it has invested in Vexere Joint Stock Company, which operated VeXeRe.com, the largest bus ticket and car booking platform in Viet Nam.

In an announcement on its website, Dao Viet Thang, finance and operation director of Vexere, said: “VeXeRe.com is pleased to receive an investment from a professional fund like Spiral Ventures, so we might continue our momentum and assure breakthrough growth in 2018.”

The financial term of the agreement has not been disclosed, as agreed by the related parties, Thang said.

VeXeRe.com was founded in July 2013 and has reported an annual growth rate of 300 per cent, to become the largest bus ticket booking platform in Viet Nam with two million visitors per month.

VeXeRe.com also pioneered in developing bus management systems among more than 300 bus operators, which helped these operators save more than 40 per cent of management costs.

The company said that the fund from Spiral Ventures would be used to invest in developing apps for passengers, drivers and operators, similar to the model of Uber/Grab, but for mid- and long-distance bus routes.

Focus would still be placed on bus ticket bookings, with a targeted growth rate of 500 per cent in 2018, before expanding to railway, airline ticket bookings and other markets in the region.

Spiral Ventures, formerly known as IMJ Investment Partners, was founded in 2012 by IMJ Corporation, a major digital marketing company, as an independent venture capital subsidiary in Japan.

After IMJ was acquired by Culture Convenience Club (CCC) in 2013, Spiral Ventures continued its investment activities independently, and eventually relocated to Singapore to change its strategy and start a venture capital fund for the Southeast Asia market.— VNS