The archive · Money & Fintech · Product decision · 2021–2026
SoBanHang bets Vietnam's shopkeepers run business on a phone; 800K users, $3.8M round
Finan's SoBanHang app gives Vietnamese shopkeepers sales, inventory and invoicing tools plus embedded finance, reaching more than 800,000 business users.
Finan (SoBanHang)
What the business is
Finan, operating as SoBanHang in Vietnam, is a mobile business-management platform for micro and small merchants covering sales, orders, inventory, invoicing, cash flow and embedded financial services.
Starting capital：Pre-Series A in May 2026 with participation from OSK-SBI Venture Partners; investor Trihill Capital put the amount at US$3.8 million.
How it started
Bui Hai Nam, an SMU-trained technologist who had co-founded Vietnamese e-commerce and logistics firms OnPoint and Swift247, saw during Vietnam's 2021 lockdown that small merchants forced online were being handed tools designed for larger companies. He built SoBanHang as an all-in-one app a counter-based shopkeeper could adopt in an afternoon, managing sales, inventory, payments and customer transactions from a phone.
What happened
The app became the operational backbone for Vietnam's micro-merchants: by May 2026 Finan said it served more than 800,000 active business users and had processed over US$5 billion in transactions. In the same month it raised a pre-Series A round with OSK-SBI Venture Partners, valued at US$3.8 million by investor Trihill Capital, to build Finan One, an AI-native business and finance operating system on top of SoBanHang's transaction data, and to expand embedded financial services and banking partnerships across Southeast Asia.
How it ended up
Finan is live and scaling: SoBanHang remains the flagship for Vietnamese micro-businesses while Finan One adds AI automation and embedded finance, with regional expansion into other Southeast Asian markets planned.
Background
SoBanHang is a Vietnamese mobile business-management platform operated by Singapore-headquartered Finan. Its app gives micro and small merchants sales management, order tracking, inventory, invoicing, cash-flow tools and embedded financial services, built for owners without formal digital training.
The company's founding bet was that Vietnam's small merchants, pushed online by lockdowns and then by mandatory e-invoicing and QR payments, would adopt simple phone tools that fit how they already ran their shops rather than enterprise software.
By May 2026 Finan said SoBanHang served more than 800,000 active business users and had processed over US$5 billion in transaction volume. The same month it raised a pre-Series A round with OSK-SBI Venture Partners, which investor Trihill Capital sized at US$3.8 million, to build Finan One, an AI-native business and finance operating system.
Finan now plans to layer AI automation and embedded banking on SoBanHang's merchant data, deepen banking partnerships and expand into other Southeast Asian markets, positioning the app as the financial backbone of Vietnam's small-business economy.
What has to be true
- Mandatory e-invoicing, real-time tax reporting and QR payments were pulling Vietnam's five million small businesses into digital tools.
- Tools built for larger companies assumed digital fluency most counter-based shopkeepers lacked, leaving room for a simpler phone-first product.
- Each sale processed through SoBanHang produced transaction data that could power credit, payments and AI advice later.
- Merchant management software has strong retention once the shop's inventory and cash flow live in the app, protecting the business model.
What can be applied
Win the merchant's daily workflow before his balance sheet: SoBanHang earned embedded-finance rights by first becoming the system of record for millions of small transactions.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Finan says SoBanHang serves more than 800,000 active business users in Vietnam and has processed over US$5 billion in transaction volume. The May 2026 pre-Series A funds Finan One, an AI-native operating system that automates financial workflows and layers banking services onto merchant data, with expansion planned across Southeast Asia as Vietnam rolls out mandatory e-invoicing and real-time tax reporting. Open risks: competition from larger SaaS and fintech players, trust in AI-driven financial decisions, and converting a free merchant base into paid services.
Sources
- Finan raises $3.8M to expand Vietnam SME management Platform across Southeast Asia
- From SMU MITB to fintech founder: Bui Hai-Nam's journey in building for Vietnam's small businesses
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