Tech unicorn VNG wants to raise 100 million USD to expand its business

DNHN - Long-term, VNG desires to list its shares on the Singapore Stock Exchange, whereas the company's original goal was to list on the Nasdaq (USA).

According to a source for Reuters, VNG Group is collaborating with Maybank to raise $100 million in a new funding round. VNG is currently contacting international investment funds for this funding round. Raised funds for business expansion.

Reuters reported that both VNG and Maybank declined to comment on the matter.

Among the notable foreign investors in the previous VNG tech unicorn were GIC, Temasek Holdings, Tencent, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, and the B Capital Group of businessman Raj Ganguly.

Long-term, VNG desires to list its shares on the Singapore Stock Exchange, whereas the company's original goal was to list on the Nasdaq (USA). According to one of Reuters' sources, the earliest possible listing date is 2024.

Stock VNG - Vietnam's first technology unicorn - is traded on the UPCoM market (stock code VNZ) with a market price of nearly VND 800,000, equating to a market capitalization of VND 29,500 billion. However, due to low liquidity, this valuation is not credible.

According to the financial report for the first quarter of 2023, VNG's net revenue reached VND 1,852 billion, an increase of 11% over the same period in the previous year. The company's after-tax loss decreased from 130 billion dongs in the same period to nearly 90 billion dongs. In which the after-tax loss of the shareholders of the parent company exceeds 40 billion dongs and the after-tax loss of non-controlling shareholders exceeds 49.5 billion dongs. This is the fifth consecutive quarter in which the company has posted a loss.

The majority of VNG's loss in the first quarter of 2023 is attributable to the company's high operating expenses, which include VND 544 billion in selling expenses and VND 337 billion in general and administrative expenses. not explicitly described).

By the end of March 2023, however, the company's undistributed profit after taxes had increased to VND 5,052 billion.

As of March 31st, VNG's total assets exceeded VND 8,975 billion, with cash, cash equivalents, and short-term bank deposits totaling nearly VND 2,838 billion.

In an interview with Bloomberg late last year, General Director Le Hong Minh stated that VNG aspires to become a global technology company. The company hopes to increase its international revenue from its artificial intelligence and cloud computing operations. These two industries are experiencing rapid expansion.

To support the expansion strategy, VNG dispersed substantial funds last year. Specifically, the investment in the VNG data center in HCMC's District 7. This is the foundation upon which VNG will accelerate the expansion of new revenue streams derived from data and cloud computing.

VNG has also invested over 500 billion Vietnamese Dong in Telio and Funding Societies, two technology companies with extensive operations in the region.

Thu Phuong (t/h)