Store management enabler KiotViet raises $45 mln

Ashish Shastry, co-head of Asia Pacific Private Investment Fund and head of KKR Southeast Asia, said KiotViet has "terrific growth potential."

KiotViet, a store management software provider launched in 2014, offers cloud-based point-of-sale sales management solutions to more than 111,000 small and medium-sized enterprises.

"Our investment in KiotViet marks our sixth in Vietnam and the first made under KKR’s growth technology strategy in Southeast Asia," Shastry said.

Tran Nguyen Hao, Founder and CEO of KiotViet, said with its "rich experience, global network and extensive expertise," KKR will strongly support KiotViet in its future development.

Hao said his company has also been expanding its product to include providing services to connect with suppliers and integrate with third-party shipping service providers to serve customers, and planned to leverage its platform to provide financial service solutions such as payments and loans.

Before KKR, KiotViet had received investments from Singapore-based Jungle Ventures and Thailand’s Kasikorn Bank.

David Gowdey, CEO of Jungle Ventures, said that since investing in KiotViet in 2019, the fund has been "impressed with how business has evolved from basic small business software to a multifaceted small business platform.

"The addition of this new capital will only enable them to provide more services to small businesses, who as a segment are a major contributor to GDP throughout Southeast Asia."

KKR is a New York-listed investment company that offers asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. It sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of The Global Atlantic Financial Group.

Louis Casey, KKR’s growth technology lead in Southeast Asia, said KKR’s investment in KiotViet aligns with one of its core themes of backing businesses that are enabling digitization of small and medium companies through software and financial technologies.