28 April 2022

BDA advises Trusting Social on US$65m initial Series C capital raise

series C capital raise from

2022

BDA Partners is pleased to announce that its client, Trusting Social (“TS”) has successfully raised US$65m as the initial close of its Series C funding round from the Sherpa Company Ltd, a subsidiary of Masan Group Corp (HOSE: MSN, “Masan”). BDA was the exclusive financial advisor to Trusting Social on the transaction.

Trusting Social is an AI TechFin company aspiring to democratize financial services through AI-based consumer insights and embedded finance. TS drives financial inclusion by providing credit insights covering a billion consumers to 170 financial institutions across Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines.

The strategic collaboration between Trusting Social and Masan intends to develop an AI-powered consumer tech platform. This will offer customized retail and financial products to 27 million families in Vietnam. It will provide convenient access to personalized fintech solutions for consumers, combining Masan’s offline-to-online vision with Trusting Social’s ability to democratize finance. The partnership will also enable Masan to drive efficiencies in its core business by leveraging Trusting Social’s AI capabilities in retail store selection, demand & supply planning, and product assortment & development.   

Trusting Social’s Founder and CEO, Nguyen Nguyen, PhD. said: “I am proud that a Vietnamese platform has created an innovative credit scoring AI and ML platform that financial institutions across Asia are utilizing to serve their consumers better. Our partnership with Masan is exciting since we broaden our platform from credit access to a total consumer life solution. Masan and Trusting Social have the same belief that Vietnam can create transformation and disruption on par with global peers.”

Masan’s CEO, Danny Le said: “Walmart has invested heavily to develop an AI and ML platform and has leveraged it to become the leading offline and online daily, consumer life platform. The Trusting Social partnership provides Masan a similar cutting-edge AI and ML platform but tailored for 100 million Vietnamese consumers. Our job together now is to develop it from a pure credit scoring use case to a holistic Consumer engine.” 

Jeff Acton, Partner and Head of Tech, BDA Partners, said: “We’re delighted to have advised Trusting Social on this exciting tie-up. This is a landmark transaction in the fintech sector in Asia, where BDA is seeing increasing deal activity, and building a track record.”

Anindita (Andi) Das, Managing Director, BDA Partners, said: “The strategic collaboration between Trusting Social and Masan reflects the accelerating trend in use of AI and Machine Learning to provide superior solutions to customers across diverse industries. We congratulate Trusting Social and Masan on their forward-thinking partnership.

About Trusting Social

Trusting Social is an AI TechFin company aspiring to democratize financial services through AI-based consumer insights and embedded finance. TS drives financial inclusion by providing credit insights covering over a billion consumers to over 170 financial institutions across Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. TS has reinvented co-lending into a profitable, win-win model, partnering with pioneering banks and consumer brands to deliver disruptive financial products to underserved consumers wherever they shop. TS is backed by Sequoia Capital, BEENEXT, Tanglin Ventures, 500 Startups, Kima Ventures and Genesis Alternative Ventures, amongst others.  www.trustingsocial.com

About Masan Group Corporation

Masan Group Corporation believes in doing well by doing good. Masan’s mission is to provide better products and services to the 100 million people of Vietnam, so that they can pay less for their daily essentials. Masan aims to achieve this by driving productivity with technological innovations, trusted brands, and focusing on fewer but bigger opportunities that impact the most lives.

Masan’s member companies and associates are industry leaders in branded fast-moving consumer goods, branded meat, modern retail, F&B retail, financial services, telecommunications, and value-add chemical processing, altogether representing segments of Vietnam’s economy that are experiencing the most transformational growth.
www.masangroup.com

About BDA Partners

BDA Partners is the global investment banking advisor for Asia. We are a premium provider of Asia-related advice to sophisticated clients globally, with 25 years’ experience advising on cross-border M&A, capital raising, and financial restructuring. We provide global reach with our teams in New York and London, and true regional depth through our seven Asian offices in Mumbai, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo. BDA has deep expertise in the Chemicals, Consumer & Retail, Health, Industrials, Services and Technology sectors. We work relentlessly to earn our clients’ trust by delivering insightful advice and outstanding outcomes. BDA Partners has strategic partnerships with William Blair, a premier global investment banking business, and with DBJ (Development Bank of Japan), a Japanese government-owned bank with US$150bn of assets.

US securities transactions are performed by BDA Partners’ affiliate, BDA Advisors Inc., a broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). BDA Advisors Inc. is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and SIPC. In the UK, BDA Partners is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In Hong Kong, BDA Partners (HK) Ltd. is licensed and regulated by the Securities & Futures Commission (SFC) to conduct Type 1 and Type 4 regulated activities to professional investors. www.bdapartners.com