No joke, Be and FastGo are about to merge to fight Grab?

At the end of May 2020, before the information about Tiki and Sendo merging, FastGo CEO Nguyen Huu Tuat was half-joking about the personal page, asking if Be and FastGo merged, what should they name?

Recently, the English website Vietnam Investment Review (VIR, under the Vietnam Investment Review) reported that two domestic ride-hailing apps Be and FastGo could negotiate a merger to break Grab’s dominance. in Viet Nam.

We have contacted CEO FastGo, however Mr. Tuat did not make any affirmation or negation of the above merger information. The beGroup also kept silent before this question.

BeGroup JSC was granted a business registration certificate in May 2018, with the original name of Veep Technology Services Joint Stock Company, with a charter capital of VND 200 million. The three co-founders are Nguyen Ngoc Bao Lam, Bui Huy Huong and Ha Anh Tuan. In particular, Mr. Bao Lam holds the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors cum General Director.

Veep is licensed to operate in 37 industries, including freight, passenger transportation, loading and unloading, and financial services support.

In September 2018, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai replaced Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Bao Lam to become the legal representative and General Director of Veep. 2 days later, Veep’s charter capital decreased from VND 200 billion to VND 100 billion.

After that, Veep changed its name to beGroup, and from April 2019 began to increase capital by 3, to 300 billion.

The structure of shareholders of beGroup was not disclosed, but Deal Street Asia revealed that a group of VPBank shareholders have poured money for this Vietnamese application.

Be continued to increase capital to VND 515.7 billion in August 2019. After Mr. Tran Thanh Hai left the position of CEO and Ms. Nguyen Hoang Phuong replaced, Be continued to increase the capital by one and a half times, to VND 755.9 billion in February 2020.

Mr. Tran Thanh Hai was considered to be the “soul” of beGroup in the beginning.

FastGo started as a small enterprise with registered capital of VND 2 billion, with 4 founding members. Some time later, the ownership was transferred to Mr. Nguyen Huu Tuat and NextTech CEO Nguyen Hoa Binh.

After analyzing CEO Nguyen Huu Tuat on his personal page about whether Go-Viet or Be stopped burning money, he will die, and wish Be soon to call capital to accompany FastGo to Grab, FastGo seems to have stopped “burning money”. from October 2019. This means that the presence of FastGo is decreasing, some drivers complain that opening the app all day is also empty.

Recently, FastGo seems to have re-launched its marketing campaigns, returning to the “money-burning” race when its position in the ride-hailing market is over.

An anonymous expert said, if this merger deal is yes, FastGo will be “better” when the presence is almost unavailable. This application can take advantage of Be’s available customers and drivers as well as enjoy the “marketing” strategy of a fairly “golden team”.

On the opposite side, when embarking with FastGo, Be can form an alliance and be more convenient in raising capital.