Vietnam-headquartered fintech platform MFast is gearing up for expansion to the Philippines next year after it raised $6 million in a Series A funding round anchored by existing investor Wavemaker Partners.
Finnoventure Fund I, Headline Asia, Do Ventures, JAFCO Asia, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures also participated in the funding round. The fresh funding follows the $2.5 million funding in 2022 that MFast raised from a host of investors, including Wavemaker Partners.
MFast CEO Long Phan announced the Philippine expansion plan along with the funding round, adding that the fresh capital will help the company design exclusive financial products for every customer segment.
“In the midst of a global funding winter, we are grateful for all our existing and new investors’ relentless support to achieve this funding milestone,” Phan added.
Launched in 2017 by twin brothers Long Phan and Vinh Phan, MFast is present in all of Vietnam’s 63 cities, providing technology and logistical infrastructure, and comprehensive training to empower 160,0000 active agents.
MFast’s agents introduce and distribute financial products to customers living in rural Vietnam by connecting them with reputable financial institutions, including Home Credit, CIMB, MCredit, as well as Vietnamese insurance firms.
MFast’s Philippine expansion plan is not without a strong reason. According to a McKinsey & Company report, the country’s banking penetration rate was among the lowest in Southeast Asia in 2021.
Majority of the country’s rural population has limited access to reliable financial services and often resorts to unsafe deals made on the grey and black markets.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier expressed confidence in achieving its goal of having 70% of the adult Filipinos with bank accounts by the end of this year.
Latest BSP data showed banked Filipino adults almost doubled to 56% of the population in 2021 from 29% in 2019. The share of digital payments in total retail transactions also increased to 30.3% from 20.1% in 2020.
In Vietnam, MFast said users fulfil the role of all-in-one agents, serving the demands of the community for finance, banking and insurance products.
As of August 2023, MFast has built a network of more than 160,000 active agents and introduced financial services packages to more than a million people in Vietnam.
“MFast aims to broaden its reach by distributing impactful, high-value products to tier-2 and tier-3 customers, while bolstering agents’ income potential,” said Phuong Tran, principal at Wavemaker Partners.Â