Vietnamese versatile pay startup Nano raises $3M seed spherical – TechCrunch

Nano Applied sciences, a startup that lets employees in Vietnam entry their earned wages instantly by way of an app known as VUI, has raised $3 million in seed funding. The oversubscribed spherical was led by returning traders Golden Gate Ventures and Venturra Discovery, and included participation from FEBE Ventures, Openspace Ventures and Goodwater Capital.

Nano not too long ago took half in Y Combinator’s accelerator program. Golden Gate Ventures and Venturra Discovery each participated in its pre-seed funding. The startup was based at the start of 2020 by Dzung Dang, previously a common supervisor at Uber and chief govt officer of ZaloPay, and Thang Nguyen, who beforehand served as chief know-how officer at Focal Labs and SeeSpace.

VUI launched six months in the past, and now serves greater than 20,000 staff from firms like GS25, LanChi Mart and Annam Gourmand. Nano Applied sciences claims that about 50{69439eabc38bbe67fb47fc503d1b0f790fcef507f9cafca8a4ef4fbfe163a7c5} to 60{69439eabc38bbe67fb47fc503d1b0f790fcef507f9cafca8a4ef4fbfe163a7c5} of staff join VUI as quickly as their employers supply it, and use the service about 3 times each month to withdraw their earned wages.

Nano’s earned wage entry options can be utilized by employers of all sizes, in all sectors, to supply versatile pay to their staff, however its focus is at present on retail, meals and beverage, and manufacturing, particularly for textiles, clothes and sneakers. The startup says firms in these sectors have seen recruitment prices enhance, whereas employee retention drops. That is partially as a result of many individuals are choosing gig economic system jobs, like ride-sharing, the place their incomes are robotically deposited into their digital wallets or financial institution accounts.

Nano normally fronts wage advances, after which is paid again again by employers on their paydays by way of payroll deduction. Employers who’ve greater liquidity can even entrance wages by way of their very own steadiness sheets. VUI is normally provided by employers as a profit, and so they can decide to cowl charges, have their employees pay charges or use a co-pay mannequin.

Nano is amongst a crop of firms internationally that provide earned wage entry, meant to assist firms retain employees by letting them withdraw earnings at any time when they need, as a substitute of ready till payday. In Southeast Asia, this additionally contains GajiGesa in Indonesia. In the remainder of the world, different firms that provide comparable companies embrace Sq., London-based Wagestream and Gusto). Nano’s plan is to proceed specializing in Vietnam, and develop new merchandise for employers, together with instruments for managing workers and engagement.

In a press assertion, Chi Phan, the CEO of LanChi Mart, a subsidiary of Central Retail with about 2,000 staff, mentioned “On-demand wage by way of VUI is an apparent thought and sensible HR initiative that LanChi workforce is happy to roll out to our staff as a brand new voluntary profit. VUI supplies a much-needed monetary lifeline from LanChi to our staff, preserving the worker morale up in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and lowering attrition rites post-Tet.”