Who is the secretive 'new owner' holding 99.99% of VNPAY's capital?

VNPAY is considered a giant in the payment intermediary field with widespread brand coverage - Photo: QUANG DINH

The official appearance of major shareholder VNLIFE was updated by VNPAY in the announcement of changes in business registration content to the management agency at the end of March this year.

VNLIFE's capital contribution at VNPAY is authorized through a number of representatives such as Mr. Le Tanh, Mr. Tran Tri Manh, Mr. Tran Van Ky and Mr. Mai Thanh Binh (Singaporean nationality).

Among them, Mr. Tanh, Mr. Manh, and Mr. Ky are all holding key positions at VNPAY.

VNLIFE - a "strange" yet "familiar" name

If VNPAY is famous for its big brand, high coverage, and large number of users, VNLIFE seems to be a quiet name in the market.

Initially, VNLIFE’s founding shareholders were some names associated with VNPAY. But after a few years, foreign shareholders gradually joined and played a rather large role in this enterprise.

Specifically, according to data from the national business registration system, at the time of establishment (December 2018), this company had an initial charter capital of VND 149.97 billion. VNLIFE's headquarters address is the same building in Lang Ha, Hanoi as VNPAY, only on a different floor.

VNLIFE's founding shareholders are Mr. Tran Tri Manh with 28.14% of contributed capital, Mr. Tran Van Ky 21.67%, Mr. Mai Thanh Binh 45.19% and Mr. Le Tanh holding 4.99%. At this time, VNLIFE has not shown any participation of foreign investors.

The two legal representatives of VNLIFE include: Mr. Tran Tri Manh - Chairman of the Board of Directors and Mr. Mai Thanh Binh (born in 1981) as General Director. In which, Mr. Tran Tri Manh is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of VNPAY.

After nearly 3 months of establishment, by March 2019, VNLIFE increased its capital to more than 170 billion VND, and at the same time, the first foreign shareholder appeared, Ardolis Investment Pte., Ltd (headquartered in Singapore) with a contributed capital of more than 28.8 billion VND, equivalent to nearly 17% of charter capital.

Learn about VNLIFE, this business is a commercial, service, and payment ecosystem with many member companies in Vietnam and internationally.

According to international media, in 2019, VNLIFE received hundreds of millions of USD in investment from GIC and SoftBank Vision Fund 1.

By 2021, VNLIFE completed a Series B funding round of $250 million. This funding round was led by US investors General Atlantic and Dragoneer Investment Group, PayPal Ventures and EDBI, along with investors such as GIC and SoftBank Vision Fund 1.

By June 2019, VNLIFE continued to increase its capital to nearly VND 184 billion. About a month later, this enterprise continued to increase its capital to VND 217.67 billion, at the same time, another foreign shareholder appeared, SVF Pioneer Subco Pte.Ltd (Singapore) with a capital contribution of more than VND 42.7 billion, equivalent to 19.62% of charter capital.

Continuing until June 2021, in the list of foreign shareholders, in addition to the two organizations mentioned above, there is also Mr. Mai Thanh Binh (Singaporean nationality) with a capital contribution of 81.3 billion VND, equivalent to 37.36% of charter capital.

Mr. Mai Thanh Binh, as the legal representative of VNLIFE, has changed his nationality and officially started contributing capital to this enterprise.

Also at this time, the enterprise had an updated report sent to the management agency on business registration of other management members in the enterprise, most of whom are foreign nationals.

Specifically, Mr. Adrian Foo Qijing (born in 1981), a Singaporean national, holds the position of a member of the Board of Directors. Two other foreign members of the Board of Directors include Mr. Punnya Niraan De Silva (Australia), Mr. Gyu Hak Moon (Korea). In addition, there are also Mr. Wong Weihan (Singapore) and Mr. Raleigh Briant Morgan (USA) as members of the Board of Supervisors.

Thus, the board of directors of VNLIFE has 5 members, of which there are only 2 Vietnamese: Mr. Tran Tri Manh and Mr. Tran Van Ky.

Constantly changing capital ratio, with Paypal's participation

Notably, also in June 2021, Mr. Mai Thanh Binh - General Director - after a short time of contributing capital, reduced his ownership ratio to more than 2.83%, equivalent to 6.17 billion VND of contributed capital.

By August 2021, VNLIFE continued to increase its capital to more than 254 billion VND. Along with that, this enterprise had 4 new foreign shareholders.

The current foreign capital structure of the enterprise includes: Vantage DF Holdings, LP (headquartered in Cayman Islands) with 5.8% of capital, General Atlantic Singapore VNL Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) with 5.8% of capital, EDB Investment Pte. Ltd contributing 0.76%, SVF Pioneer Subco Pte. Ltd (Singapore) with 19.93%, Ardolis Investment Pte., Ltd (headquartered in Singapore) contributing 13.45%; Paypal Pte. Ltd contributing 1.93% and Mr. Mai Thanh Binh only holds 0.259%.

	%
SVF Pioneer Subco PTE.LTd	22.58
Paypal Pte. Ltd	2.19
Vantage DF Holdings	6.57
General Atlantic Singapore VNL Pte. Ltd.	8.87
EDB Investment Pte Ltd	0.866
Ardolis Investment PTE., LTD	15.23
Punnya Niraan De Silva	0.01

Foreign shareholder structure at VNLIFE, the rest is held by domestic shareholders.

After a period of change with fluctuations in the structure and proportion of shareholders, the latest data up to early 2025 - before the time VNLIFE held 99.9% of VNPAY's capital, this enterprise reduced its charter capital to more than 244,666 billion VND.

Of which, 7 foreign shareholders hold about 56% of VNLIFE's capital and most of them have increased their ownership ratio compared to the previous period.

Currently, VNLIFE is still chaired by Mr. Tran Tri Manh and General Director by Mr. Mai Thanh Binh. However, a large number of shares are in the hands of foreign partners.

What is VNPAY's market share in the payment intermediary market?

VNPAY is one of the first companies to be permitted by the Governor of the State Bank to pilot the provision of e-wallet payment services. In 2015, VNPAY was officially granted a license to provide intermediary payment services.

Currently, VNPAY website introduces providing electronic payment services to more than 40 banks, 5 telecommunications companies and more than 350,000 partner businesses.

According to data from Vietdata, this enterprise has a large market share in Vietnam with revenue of about 30,000 billion VND, equivalent to 1.2 billion USD in 2023, far surpassing other payment intermediary applications...

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BINH KHANH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ong-chu-moi-kin-tieng-nam-99-99-von-cua-vnpay-la-ai-20250509180214702.htm