Validus, TTC Group, and Do Ventures form joint venture to deepen financial inclusion for SMEs

Validus Vietnam, the Vietnam entity of Southeast Asia’s leading and award-winning growth financing platform Validus for SMEs, established multi-industry conglomerate TTC Group, and Do Ventures, a leading early-stage venture investment fund in Vietnam have announced a joint venture to drive financial inclusion and empower the growth of underserved SMEs in Vietnam.

TTC Group is participating in the venture through its company DHA Corporation (DHAC), a pioneer in investing in the core pillars of real estate, health, and sports.

Left to right: Dang Hong Anh, vice chairman of TTC Group and chairman of DHAC; Nikhilesh Goel, co-founder and group CEO of Validus; Vy Le, general partner of Do Ventures

The partnership underscores the mutual commitment to advancing SME growth in Vietnam and creates multiple synergies – one of which is TTC’s large ecosystem of SMEs across the energy, real estate, cane sugar, and hospitality industries in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Do Ventures’ deep expertise in the emerging fintech landscape will be strong support for Validus Vietnam’s growth ambitions, and the cooperation will benefit from these synergies with portfolio companies under Do Ventures.

SMEs play a pivotal role in Vietnam’s economy; however, access to credit remains a pressing issue for SME development, with the financing gap standing at 12 per cent of its GDP. According to a World Bank survey on the impact of the pandemic on firms in Vietnam, the lack of access to finance has been exacerbated as liquidity remains a challenge under a continuous reduction in demand.

About 50 per cent of firms have under three months of cash flow, and over 60 per cent of firms have reported some difficulties with access to finance.

Dang Hong Anh, chairman of DHAC said, “Contributing to the recovery and growth of SMEs is a key priority for us, and this venture will create sustainable values for the SMEs in our ecosystem.”

Validus co-founder and group CEO, Nikhilesh Goel, said, “As Validus Vietnam scales to the next phase of growth, this cooperation reaffirms our mission to drive financial inclusion and increase SMEs’ access to affordable credit. Using our proven proprietary data-driven approach and credit-scoring models, we will leverage synergies to expand credit access, alleviate liquidity challenges, and bring value to SMEs in all parts of the supply chain.”

On the same note, Vy Le, general partner of Do Ventures, said, “The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of SMEs in Vietnam, and there is a large opportunity for fintechs to create meaningful and lasting impact through partnerships and technology. We’re excited to be at the forefront of this and we look forward to harnessing synergies to strengthen SME resilience, drive growth, and in turn, the economy.”

Since its launch in 2015, Validus has disbursed over $1 billion in SME loans across Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. The company is backed by highly reputed venture capitalists including FMO, Vertex Growth, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, AddVentures by SCG, K3 Ventures, Openspace Ventures, and VinaCapital Ventures.