Society Pass Incorporated (SoPa), a leading Southeast Asian data-driven loyalty platform, announced that it had acquired the Ha Noi based Dream Space Trading Company Limited, the operator of Handycart, a leading online grocery delivery platform.

The newly acquired company will be integrated into SoPa’s F&B delivery vertical with SoPa’s existing merchant software platform #HOTTAB.

Handycart founder and CEO, Seo Jun Ho, has been named Head of the new Business Unit, managing Handycart and #HOTTAB in Viet Nam.

Founded in 2019, Handycart is an online grocery delivery app with a fleet of delivery vehicles that focuses on servicing the Korean restaurant market and F&B sector in Ha Noi.

Korean food and pop culture have taken Viet Nam by storm, driven by the growing “Korean Wave.” A recent survey by market research firm Q&Me found that 58 per cent of Vietnamese favour Korean cuisine.

Ngo Thi Cham, SoPa Vietnam Country General Manager, said: “We are excited to welcome Handycart to our larger SoPa ecosystem, which will enable it to harness our integrated marketing and technology proposition while also strengthening our collective senior management resources."

"We endeavour to combine the robust technology and operational efficiency of a speciality e-commerce brand like Handycart with our brand-building experience. SoPa has witnessed, with runaway success of Leflair in Viet Nam, that this move will lead to immediate returns in terms of cost optimisation and increased revenue generation. We are determined to increase merchant coverage to 500 restaurants in Ha Noi by the end of 2022 and look to expand to HCMC in Q3​.”

Leveraging SoPa’s integrated technology platform to drive operational efficiencies and business performance, Handycart will focus on dramatically increasing on-demand grocery shopping services to more consumers in the country while empowering speciality F&B restaurants to transform business models and further tap online markets.

Seo Jun Ho, CEO of Handycart said, “Handycart was established in 2019 with a mission of connecting Korean patrons seeking a taste of home through its established network of authentic Korean restaurants in Viet Nam."

Providing businesses with speedy access to authentic Korean products has helped us gather a loyal user base of over 3,000 with more than 26,000 orders in 2021 alone. SoPa will now accelerate Handycart’s growth, given our well-established positioning as a go-to online grocery delivery service. Partnership with Society Pass will enable us to unlock growth opportunities within the industry, and I am glad that Handycart can now avail itself of SoPa’s synergistic ecosystem.”

Viet Nam has been one of the fastest-growing economies within SEA over the past two decades. The country’s e-commerce is growing tremendously, valued at US$13.2 billion, and is expected to grow steadily from 2021 until 2025.

Focused on growing its operations in Viet Nam, Indonesia, and Philippines markets, SoPa is an acquisition focused e-commerce holding company operating across five interconnected verticals of lifestyle, F&B, travel, merchant software and loyalty with six unique business units connecting millions of consumers and thousands of merchants in Southeast Asia.

Handycart is the group’s third acquisition in Viet Nam following its acquisition of e-commerce marketplace Leflair and merchant POS and business app #HOTTAB. — VNS