Skip links

Vietnam’s Phenikaa Group strategically invests $1.5 million in BusMap-owned startup

Financing and endorsing the development of young, potential startups, spinoffs and entrepreneurs with disruptive, practical, socially-beneficial technological initiatives are the approaches taken by Phenikaa Group to acquire achievements in the science and technology sector, to foster Vietnam’s young generation, and to bolster the Vietnamese intellectuals. A number of technological products and solutions made by Phenikaa Group have recently been brought into life, marking a watershed in the Group’s pursuit of becoming one of the top-tier technological and industrial corporations in the region. Remarkably, a majority of core technologies are reportedly developed by Vietnamese engineers and scientists of Phenikaa Group, especially the young, talented and passionate ones whose businesses have become parts of the Phenikaa Ecosystem. That headhunting policy showcases the Group’s identifiable strategy to earn the most glorious achievements in the technology and science sector in line with the cultivation of young Vietnamese intellectual, capable talents.

Phenikaa MaaS JSC is the construction unit of Covidmaps.

Among the deals was the $1.5 million investment in BusMap JSC, the developer of Vietnam’s top free public transportation application BusMap. The investment was expected to enable Phenikaa Group to keep its promise of nurturing Vietnamese talents and to create a momentum to enhance the strength of the Phenikaa Ecosystem. Moreover, the deal would hasten the sustainable development and construction of smart cities in Vietnam and facilitate the Government to implement its policies and achieve set targets through intensive digital transformation. The deal made BusMap JSC a member of Phenikaa Group and it provided the former with manpower, organizational structure and technical fundamentals. BusMap was then renamed Phenikaa MaaS JSC and the company has made great efforts to rebuild its organizational structure and expand its vision and business strategic direction, eying the status of the leading developer and provider of products, solutions and services in efforts to drive Vietnam’s transport and city development forwards by applying smart solutions through comprehensive digital transformation. Under the strategic direction of Phenkaa Group with long-term assistance, Phenikaa MaaS will take BusMap as the core technology and fundamental to create “personalized” applications upon each user’s need of customization to resolve a variety of issues with personal life and business operation. That is also the foundation for Phenikaa MaaS to expand the operation to come up with transporting products and services for local companies, organizations and communities.

CEO Le Yen Thanh of Phenikaa MaaS

In 2013, a group of young, talented technicians, led by CEO Le Yen Thanh, founded the technological startup BusMap in strong aspirations of technological achievements. In the early days, the founders wanted to create a charge-free public transportation app, which was known as BusMap, for urban bus passengers. The app was designed to facilitate people to increase the efficiency of bus travel, to optimize their traveling routes, and to save money and time in comparison to other means of transportation, thus encouraging the use of public transport and reducing traffic congestion and environmental pollution. From the beginning of a small-scale startup with very few personnel counts, BusMap has made consistent efforts to improve and develop. At the moment, the application has reached more than two million users, assisted the completion of more than 50 million trips and become Vietnam’s top free public transportation app. The application is developed upon the core digital map technology in association with artificial intelligence (AI) and consultancy algorithm to allow an user to get access to the urban bus map, thus finding the best travel route for the lowest fare and time. At the end of 2020, BusMap app beat other popular names to win the first prize for “Smart Cities, Smart Living” at the International Telecommunication Union’s ITU Award 2020 – a worldwide recognition for outstanding technological initiatives in contribution to the better world. Currently, Phenikaa MaaS is in the Top 13 of SK Startup Fellowship 2021, Batch#2 of which BSSC is a Program Partner. This startup is also one of the finalists of the Qualcomm Vietnam Innovation Challenge – QVIC 2021.

Sources of information include VietnamInsider and Giaoduc&Thoidai.